


Starry-Eyed Letters

by habanerohamster



Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Childhood Friends, Copious Disney references, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gen is a Gremlin, Kid Fic, Lots of Childhood Flashbacks, M/M, Oblivious Xeno, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining Stan, Rating May Change, Slow Burn, Toddler Gen, Toddler Senku
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:48:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 60,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25883884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/habanerohamster/pseuds/habanerohamster
Summary: Xeno was 24 years old when his sister passed away in an accident and he was given full custody of his 2 year old nephew Gen. He was used to writing research papers up until the late night hours for grad school and setting reminders for himself to eat, not having to provide for and take care of a baby.If you had asked him what his future plans were a year prior, raising a toddler and falling for his best friend would have been the last two things he would have ever considered in his foreseeable future.
Relationships: Minor Byakuya Ishigami/Lillian Weinberg, Stanley Snyder/Dr. Xeno
Comments: 77
Kudos: 157





	1. Lullaby

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I'm new to the Dr. Stone fandom and this is my first work for the series. Hope it's not to ooc. 
> 
> I just really wanted to write a kid fic with stanxeno so hope you guys are ready to see xeno and stan try to raise baby gen together!

Xeno wakes up to a loud whimpering coming from his left side. He rubs his eyes and turns his head slightly to the right to check the digital clock on the nightstand. 5:38 am. It had been around 2:30 am when he last looked at the clock before falling asleep. He would take those 3 sweet precious hours of sleep since they were better than anything he had got these past couple of days. 

Xeno sits up and turns to his left to attend to his 2 year old nephew Gen. He had thought the nightmares were finally stopping for the toddler after they had gone almost 2 weeks without one, but 2 days ago they had started up again. 

They were back to their old routine of Xeno waking up to a quivering whimpering Gen in the early hours of the morning. He reached out and carded his fingers through the baby's hair, shushing him and whispering low words of reassurance that he was there beside him.

A few minutes later he was greeted with the familiar sight of Gen slowly opening his eyes and watching the toddler look around frantically as his eyes adjusted to the darkness before landing his big dark eyes on Xeno. 

"Mama?"

Ah. Xeno tried to not let Gen still seeking out for his mother get to him, but he couldn't help the sadness that washed over him every time his nephew called out for his sister. Normally he would correct the toddler and try to explain in an easy way for Gen to understand that his mom was not here anymore. But tonight he couldn't bring himself to do it, so instead he lies back down, reaches out, and brings the baby closer into his arms. 

"I'm here," he tells Gen, continuing to run his fingers through the toddler's black hair to calm him down. 

Gen continues to sniffle in his arms, Xeno sighs and starts to hum a simple tune to soothe his nephew. It's a lullaby his sister use to hum to him when they were kids when he couldn't sleep himself. It's the only thing that seems to soothe Gen's distress and he often uses it as a last resort on nights where the toddler just can't seem to shake off the bad dream he had. 

He's not sure how much time has passed before he hears the slow steady breathing coming from Gen indicating that he had fallen back asleep. He loosens his hold on his nephew to allow the baby some room to move in his sleep. 

Light was starting to slowly bask the room from the sunrise meaning that it was more than likely past 6am now. Xeno had problems going back to sleep once woken up so he knew he was doomed to spend the next 2 hours staring at the wall, alone with his thoughts, as he waited for his 8am alarm to go off for them to start their morning. 

Xeno looks down at the sleeping toddler and wonders if things would ever get easier. It had been about 5 months since his sister had passed away and he had been given full custody of Gen. 

He still remembers that dreadful day clearly. Xeno had been at his university waiting for his next class when he got the phone call from the police officer telling him his sister had gotten into a fatal car crash. He had walked out of the college and drove off in his car to make the 2 hour road trip back to his hometown. 

Upon arriving at the hospital, a law enforcement officer had sat him down and explained into greater detail what had happened. The officer who talked to him told him that his sister had been getting off work and heading over to the daycare to pick up Gen. Her car was hit head on when a car nearby ran a red light which resulted in her dying immediately on impact.

They then reassured Xeno that his 2 year old nephew Gen was currently being looked after by a social worker in an area in the hospital. He was then guided down the gloomy hospital halls until he arrived at an overly colorful children's room where his nephew was sitting down on a bright purple mat blissfully playing with some blocks, innocent to the news that his mother had just passed away.

Xeno was greeted by a social worker who disclosed to him that his sister had given him full custody of Gen if something were to happen to her. Xeno already knew this information. He had been at the hospital when his sister had given birth to Gen and had asked him to be his godfather. He had said yes with no hesitation. 

His sister and him knew all too well the feeling and experience of growing up without parents. Both of their parents had died in a fatal accident when they were both young, leaving them orphaned and thrown into the foster care system. 

Xeno would never let Gen succumb to the same hardships that his sister and him had to face growing up. He knew not the slightest idea on how to raise a child, but he owed it to his sister to try and not let his nephew fall into the system. 

Besides his sister had practically raised Xeno herself at a young age. His sister was 10 and he was 3 when both their parents died. He saw her as a parent figure growing up since she swore to take care of him no matter what. When his older sister turned 16 she got a job and saved up, promising they would get their own place once she turned 18 and she would take him with her. 

She lived up to that promise. Working multiple jobs to make sure they had a roof over their head and had the necessities to live. As he got older Xeno felt quite guilty, believing he had been the cause for his sister having to grow up too fast and not accomplish her own dreams. 

Because of this he knew he would raise Gen as his own no matter what. He owed it to his dear older sister for selflessly caring for him for years. Besides how hard could it be?

It had been 5 months since then. 5 rough months. He could count on his hand the number of good days, were there were no sleepless nights haunted by nightmares or him fucking up this parenting thing. He has no idea how his sister managed to raise him at a young age, and he had an even greater respect for her now if that was even possible. 

Xeno was currently a PhD student and had decided to take a break from college one semester to help get Gen settled into his routine. He's glad he made that decision because he doesn't believe he would have been able to juggle school and raise a child those first few months. 

Gen had slight behavioral issues. Xeno often wonders if he's part of the reason for Gen's spontaneous behavior sometimes. When Xeno had first brought Gen home he had outright told Gen that his mom had died and was not coming back. He had thought being honest to the toddler was the best route, just for the results from that conversation to be a sobbing baby who did not understand at all the words he told him. 

It wasn't until later that week he was told by the therapist, that the social worker had requested they both see, that was not the best way to handle telling a toddler their parent had passed away. Great first week of being a parent and Xeno had fucked up big time. It was safe to say he would not be getting any parent of the year of awards anytime soon. 

His therapist had told him that he had to explain in a way that Gen understood. Because Gen was only 2 years old, he wouldn't understand an abstract concept like death well. The therapist also mentioned that Xeno had to start explaining everything he said in simple terms to the toddler so there wouldn't be any misunderstandings between the two of them. 

That advice had helped greatly, but didn't solve all the problems Xeno faced raising his nephew. Gen had random fits of outbursts that ranged from him throwing things, refusing to eat, crying for hours, or just screaming for his mom. 

The therapist had reassured him that once Gen got used to his environment and came to his own terms that his mother was not coming back, that his behavior issues might decline. Xeno sure hoped the therapist was right because he had never felt this overwhelmed by a situation in his life. He had no idea if what he was doing was right or wrong. 

Xeno had checked out numerous childhood development books from his university to see if there was any potential information he could learn about that would help him better understand how to handle Gen. He regrets that stupid decision because after spending hours reading various theories from knowledgeable psychologists he became even more stressed and doubtful about his parenting skills. 

Apparently from birth to 3 years old were important development years that determine how one would act and react in situations as they got older. Watching Gen dump his box of crayons on the ground before crying, had Xeno wondering and worrying if his lack of parenting skills would have any negative long term effects on his nephew as he grew up.

Just the thought of knowing that Gen could possibly never overcome this traumatic event and he could be part of the reason why, had Xeno experiencing many sleepless nights. Sometimes when Gen was sobbing for hours on end, Xeno often felt like joining the toddler in his crying sessions. He had greatly underestimated how hard it could be to care for a child who had lost an important parental figure.

As the months passed things did get slightly better. They slowly started to get accustomed to living and being in each other’s space. Gen was starting to cry less and his tantrums were not as frequent. Xeno was also starting to better pick up on the toddler’s patterns and find solutions that worked to correct Gen's behavior. 

Things started to take a turn for the best when Xeno had started college again almost 3 weeks ago and had got an internship at NASA. It allowed them to follow a schedule and routine which proved to be good for the both of them. 

Their mornings would start at 8am sharp. Xeno would get himself ready first before waking up his nephew to get him dressed for the day. Then they would have breakfast and after Xeno would drive them off to his part time intern job at NASA. 

The company had a daycare center on site that Xeno had been lucky enough to get accepted into. He would drop Gen off at the childcare center and then work for a few hours. His supervisor had been lenient with him and allowed Xeno to leave Gen at the daycare while he attended any classes he had that day. After class Xeno would rush back to the site and pick up Gen from the daycare. 

It was overall working well and was a great experience for both of them. Xeno was able to indulge back into doing the work he loved and continue his education. While Gen seemed happier interacting with kids his age and would often babble nonstop to Xeno about his adventures he had that day with his new friends.

It had been a great two weeks and Xeno felt like things were finally seeming alright. For once he felt that he could maybe do this parent thing without having any doubts or troubles. Unfortunately that all came crashing down on the 3rd week when the nightmares started haunting Gen again. 

This was his current predicament. In the 3 days since then, Xeno had gotten less than 6 hours of sleep combined and was starting to feel the burnout creep up on him. He was running of less than 2 hours of sleep a day while trying to work, attend class, and care for Gen. He wasn't quite sure how long he could continue like this before he crashed.

The nightmares often struck Gen a few hours after the toddler had fallen asleep. Which left Xeno waking up too and having to comfort his nephew before the young boy fell back into a deep slumber. Xeno hated to admit that he was slightly jealous that the toddler could fall back asleep so quick after a nightmare, while he was left alone awake staring into the dark void of their room waiting desperately for the 8am alarm he had set to go off. 

He had tried everything in the book to get himself to fall back asleep, but unfortunately nothing had worked. He was left to succumb to anxious thoughts just hoping that maybe the exhaustion of little sleep would knock him out and allow him to relive some of this build up fatigue he had. 

His therapist had suggested counting sheep which had made Xeno laugh because what was he a child. But at this point he was willing to try anything he hadn't yet no matter how ridiculous it sounded and was at 5,691 sheep when he heard the loud buzzing of his alarm finally go off. 

He quickly shuts the alarm off and looks over at Gen to make sure he didn't wake. The baby was curled up in the blanket sleeping peacefully not disturbed. Xeno slowly untangles himself from Gen and gets up, letting the child continue to sleep while he gets ready for the day. His routine started with him taking a shower and trying to avoid the mirror so he wouldn't see how haggard he looked. 

He took his shower cold. He needed to be fully awake this morning. Xeno had his first big adult meeting at the company he hoped to work at one day and his manager had given him the chance to present the information of what their department was working on to the rest of the workers present at the meeting. As he got out and started dressing himself, Xeno decided to take a chance and look at himself in the mirror. He saw the dark circles under his eyes, regretting the decision immediately.

How un-elegant. He had been avoiding looking in any mirrors he came across because he knew he looked bad. He just hoped none of his coworkers pointed out how he looked like shit and offered feigned sympathy about his situation. 

It seemed his past history had been leaked and spread like wildfire around the office. He now constantly had to deal with people telling him how brave he was for taking in and raising his nephew after losing his sister. Xeno despised the sad sorry looks from his coworkers. He had enough of being treated and seen as a charity case during his childhood. He didn't need that in his adult years too. 

He finished getting himself ready for the day before walking over to the bed to wake up the toddler. 

"Gen it's time to wake up" Xeno says, sitting down on the edge of bed and reaching out to gently shake the young boy. 

He watches as Gen slowly stirs awake. The child yawns loudly before opening his dark eyes to stare at his guardian. 

"Mornin" Gen mumbles sleepily while trying to kick the blankets off himself. 

"Good Morning Gen"

Xeno helps him finish taking the covers off himself and then picks him up to quickly carry him over to the closet to dress him up for the day. Normally Xeno would let Gen dress himself and help him along the way if needed, but today they were in a hurry. 

"Pancakes?" Gen asks while Xeno pulls a purple shirt with white flowers on the front over his head. 

"Sorry Gen we don't have time to make pancakes today. How about your favorite cereal instead?"

Gen pouts not happy hearing no to his request of wanting pancakes for breakfast. Xeno nervously pulls up Gen's beige shorts over his legs and hopes that this doesn't result in Gen throwing a tantrum this early in the morning. The last thing he needs is for Gen to purposely spill his bowl of cereal on the ground and him being late to his meeting because he was picking up his nephew's mess. 

He finishes dressing and getting Gen ready for the day before they make their way to the kitchen to have breakfast. Xeno makes sure to pour Gen some orange juice in his sippy cup to hopefully lighten the boys mood so he wouldn't throw a fit over not getting his preferred food of choice. Gen happily accepts the consolation and eats his breakfast peacefully.

Gen had a huge sweet tooth that often made it difficult for Xeno to get the child to eat. His nephew always requested overly sugary entrees for food and preferred drinks that weren't healthy which left Xeno having to tell him no and pray Gen wouldn't negatively react to that word. Xeno just hopes that the toddler releases all that energy from the sugar at the daycare before he picks him up, so he doesn't have to deal with a hyper child at home. 

Xeno looks at the clock on the stove and notices they have less than 10 mins to finish eating and leave so he wouldn't be late to his job. He pours himself a huge serving of coffee into a to go cup to take with him and starts grabbing Gen's backpack and his laptop to get them ready for them to walk out the door with.

"All done!" Gen shouts, raising his hands in the air for Xeno to pull him out of his high chair. 

Xeno walks over and notices that the toddler had somehow kicked off his shoes. Gen had a personal vendetta against shoes. He could never get the baby to keep them on no matter how tight he tied his shoelaces. He seemed to be a pro at being able to wiggle his feet out of them and Xeno had no idea how he did it. Gen also often lost shoes since he hated having them on and because of this they had been through many pairs. 

Xeno quickly puts them back on and makes sure to tie them as tight as he could without making them too uncomfortable for the young boy to walk in. He pulls Gen out of the high chair, puts him on the ground, and holds his hand out for Gen to take so they can leave the house.

"Joker?"

Ah. Xeno almost forgot about that rabbit. Joker was a stuffed rabbit plush that the hospital staff had given to his sister when Gen was born. It slept next to them on the bed and the toddler couldn't go anywhere without it. Xeno had learned that the hard way when they had departed the house without it one day. Once Gen had noticed it was gone, he started bawling and wouldn't stop until Xeno had driven back home to grab it. 

He couldn't have that happening again, so he told Gen to wait in the living room while he went back to their room to retrieve the stuffed animal. Upon returning to the front room with the toy in his hands, he was greeted with Gen sitting on the floor attempting to take his shoes off again. 

"You have to keep your shoes on Gen"

"Shoes bad"

Xeno didn't have time to argue with his nephew about his distaste for wearing sneakers. So instead he walked over and picked up the toddler, interrupting Gen from untying his shoelaces. Xeno then attempted to walk out of the house carrying Gen's backpack, his laptop case, coffee cup, and the child in his arms. 

He had forgotten how heavy Gen was. The young boy was growing every day and soon Xeno would not be able to carry him like this. He needed to find a way soon to break all these bratty habits that Gen had. 

They were finally out the door when Xeno realized he couldn't lock their apartment up with his hands full. 

"Gen can you hold this cup for me really quick so I can-" Xeno starts, but then stops when he turns and sees the dirty look his nephew is giving him. 

It seems Gen was not thrilled about Xeno disrupting his quest to get the suffocating feet trapping devices off his feet by picking him up. Xeno already knew it was pointless to even try to get the toddler to hold the cup for him, so instead he attempts to bend down to put the drink on the ground so he can lock up the door. 

After successfully putting the cup on the ground he reaches out to put the keys in the lock, when Gen suddenly drops the plush rabbit in his hands on the ground. 

"Joker!"

Xeno reminds himself to calm down and breathe. It was just an accident and he's been able to handle days worse than this. Though sometimes he couldn't help but wonder if Gen did things like this intentionally just to spite him. He knew his nephew was just a baby, but he often second guessed that maybe Gen was more intelligent and aware of the situation then he originally thought.

Xeno reaches down, picks up the stuffed plush, and hands it back to Gen. 

"Thanchu"

Any annoyance Xeno had fades away when he hears the toddler tell him thank you. It was a rare occurrence for Gen to be polite and thank him for anything he did for him. He had attempted to teach Gen some manners, but was met with a blank stare from the young boy anytime he tried to lecture him on being polite. Maybe Gen was listening to him when he talked during those times and Xeno noted to continue encouraging his nephew to say "please" and "thank you".

"You're welcome" 

Xeno finally locks the door and turns around to make his way towards the parking lot to his car. He opens the back door, drops their belongings on the seat, and starts to buckle Gen into his carseat. 

"Ipad?"

Xeno finishes buckling in Gen and then hands the toddler the blue kid's tablet that his therapist had recommended he get to help keep Gen occupied. Xeno use to judge parents who would resort to technology to distract their children, but now that he was a parent himself he understood why they did it. 

He did however limit when Gen was allowed to use the tablet. It was only to be used on car rides so Xeno could concentrate on the road and during times when he needed Gen preoccupied so he could finish classwork or catch a long needed break. He didn't want his nephew to become addicted to technology at such a young age. 

He finally goes around to the driver side, slides in, closes the door, and rests his head down on the steering wheel. He remembers the breathing techniques his therapist taught him to calm down and he slowly inhales then exhales hoping to wash away the nerves, worries, exhaustion, and stress he felt. 

Xeno was a scientist and never considered himself a religious man, but lately he found himself praying, hoping, and begging to anyone for the day to go by with no issues, concerns, or any problems to arise with Gen. He really needed today of all days to go perfectly with no troubles. 

So with one last plea for the day to go by smoothly, he finally puts his car into reverse and backs out of the parking lot to face whatever life threw at him today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was considering making gen talk more baby talk, but wasn't sure if anyone would understand him so opted for him talking normal.
> 
> Xeno doesn't realize that Gen is in his terrible two's and just thinks he's purposely trying to annoy him! Please send Xeno some good lucks   
> because he's going to need all the luck and help he can get as the story continues.
> 
> My [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ghoulgecko?s=09)!


	2. Canned Coffee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New Chapter!
> 
> Sorry for delay. I started classes again and have so many due dates. 
> 
> Updates maybe slow from this point on due to college, but I will try to update at least once a week.

Xeno once again was reminded that there was no higher power and that life was a bitch. He was only 5 mins away from the house when he reached over to grab his coffee cup only to realize that he had forgot to pick it up from the ground at the apartment. He was depending on that huge serving of black coffee to be his lifeline for getting through the morning. Now he couldn't depend on it to save him from this dreadful long meeting that he had to present at. 

Wonderful. Xeno didn't like to admit it, but he had a bit of a coffee addiction. He knew it was a stimulant and that was the main reason why the beverage enhanced his energy and alertness. But it got him through the day, and he was willing to ignore all the subsequent downsides to the drink because of this. 

The nerves were getting to him and now he was considering playing the pity card to get out of giving the presentation by spilling to his supervisor how shitty the past 3 days had been for him. Confessing his struggles to his manager could make him feel sorry for him and raise the possibility of passing on his responsibility of presenting to another person in their group. But Xeno knew this was a good opportunity to show the company that he could handle projects like this and was adapting to the work environment.

He really needed to showcase that he was a phenomenal potential candidate to hire after his internship ended. Working at NASA was his dream job and he would be damned if he was going to let this once in a lifetime chance to get hired on slip away from him. 

Xeno knew he had to do this no matter what. Besides he was a PhD student, who had faced things worse than this hurdle in his college career. He once had to present his student research at a conference in front of some of the best professionals in that field. 

Not to mention he had managed to get into one of the best colleges in the country. This was child's play compared to those instances. He just had to formulate and calculate a plan prior to going into that meeting room that would have the best possible outcome. 

Xeno was too busy imaging different scenarios in his head of how things at the meeting could play out that he failed to notice that he hadn't heard the monotone female voice of the learning app from the blue tablet in some time.

It wasn't until he had to slam his breaks at a red light, and he was brought back to the present that he realized he hadn't heard a sound from Gen in awhile.

Things were quiet.... too quiet. He looked through his rear-view mirror to check on why Gen was so silent, when he saw that the toddler had put the tablet aside in exchange to mess with the shoelaces on his shoes.

"Gen! What did I say? You have to keep your shoes on."

"No!"

Xeno huffed. There was no point in arguing with the toddler since they were almost to his job. He would just have to put them back on him when they got there.

They finally arrived at the gate and Xeno pulled up to the front so he could get buzzed in. The security at the building was extremely strict. He had to get his ID checked by security and roll down Gen's window to show he had another person with him. Gen also had to get an ID made in order to be let on the property. 

Xeno still remembers that day when he had to bring Gen into the visitor’s office in order to get him his ID printed so he could attend the daycare. The sweet older women in the front couldn't help, but fawn over how cute Gen was. While all Xeno could do was plaster on a fake smile, while suffering on the inside, as he watched Gen soak up all the attention they gave him. 

Prior to them coming in that day Gen had decided that he was bored of his coloring books and was going to use the walls of their apartment as his next coloring project instead. Xeno had to go to the nearest warehouse store near them afterwards to buy a gallon of paint to paint the walls before his landlord had his head. 

Now Xeno couldn't help but be reminded of that memory every time he had to pull out Gen and his ID to show the security guard. The security guard looks at both their badges before giving them the all clear. Xeno drives to the building he works at and parks before hurrying up to grab Gen so they can head inside. 

"See Wuna?" Gen asks as Xeno picks up the shoe he had managed to wrestle off one foot to put it back on him.

"Yes, we are going to go see Luna. Are you going to be a good boy for her today?"

Gen just innocently smiles at him as Xeno takes him out of his car seat, grabs his backpack, and quickly makes his way towards the daycare. 

The walk down a long corridor before arriving at a blue door painted with rainbows, flowers, and multiple small hand painted children plastered on the door. Xeno opens the door and is greeted to the loud noise of numerous children talking at once. 

"Wuna!" Gen shouts when he sees his daycare teacher upon entering the place.

A blonde young girl turns around when she hears her name and smiles when she sees the young boy in his arms. 

"Good morning Gen! And you too Xeno." Luna tells them, making her way over to take his nephew out of his hands. 

Luna was a teacher at the daycare. She worked with the toddler age group and was the person Gen interacted with the most at the childcare center. His nephew had taken quite a liking to the young girl and often talked about her when he was at home. 

When Xeno had first got accepted into the daycare program his biggest worry was Gen not connecting with any of the teachers at the center and him having to be stuck trying to figure out what to do next. The young boy was having issues opening up to adults and it was a big concern that they were currently trying to get some help with from the therapist. Thankfully they didn't have that issue and Gen seemed to really be comfortable around his new daycare teacher. 

Luna had been a literal life saver for Xeno these past few weeks. The first week of Gen being at the daycare, one of his classes had run late and he ended up having to rush back to the daycare 30 mins after it had closed. Xeno had apologized immensely to the blonde girl for being behind time, but Luna had just smiled and told him it was fine that these things happened. 

After that Xeno had taken the time to get to better know the girl who was willing to stay after closing hours when he arrived late sometimes to pick up his nephew due to his classes. He had learned that Luna was a medical student who was taking a semester off to decide if she wanted to continue down that career path.

She had told him one afternoon that she was having difficulty keeping up with the classes and wasn't sure if she was cut out for that line of work or if she even enjoyed it. Xeno had offered her advice and told her that it was better for her to follow something she was passionate about then be stuck in a career that made her unhappy. 

He had learned this past week that Luna was now considering changing her career path to do something in education instead. She told Xeno that she really enjoyed teaching children and could see herself doing that in the future. Xeno had agreed and informed her that she was a great teacher and role model. That his nephew Gen adored her in the short weeks he had known her. 

"Gen say goodbye to Xeno!" Luna says waving goodbye to Xeno as he starts to walk out the door. 

"Bye bye!" Gen tells him copying Luna and waving his little hands at his caregiver. 

Ah. Xeno had to admit that it was times like this where his nephew was being too adorable for his own good and was saying goodbye to him for the day that he truly felt overwhelmed by an emotion that he didn't fully understand and could not find the exact word to describe how he was feeling yet. 

The feeling started to dissipate and be replaced with nerves when he remembered he had a meeting to lead while running on less than 3 hours of sleep and no caffeine in his system. 

He exited the door and made his way to his desk to prepare his materials for the meeting, hoping and praying for the second time that day for this gathering with his coworkers to go smoothly with no issues. 

* * *

The meeting went decently. Xeno wouldn't consider it his best work and he had carefully noted any mistakes he made during the meeting. So he could later calculate what went wrong and come up with solutions to make sure any future meetings would not fall victim to the same errors. 

His supervisor had told him he did well and praised him for his work. Which was a relief for Xeno, but at the same time he knew he could have done better and had to for upcoming meetings to ensure that he would be guaranteed a job after graduation. 

The rest of the day went by steadily. His manager had asked him to do some calculations for a design of a rocket their team was currently working on. Xeno enjoyed doing mathematical science and spent the next few hours hunched over his desk crunching numbers to get the right calculations. 

Soon lunch rolled around, and his coworkers started to file out of the room to go enjoy their lunch break. Xeno finished up his work and then made his way out of the room to the cafeteria to see what was being served today. 

Fifteen minutes later Xeno was eating his lunch at a table in a breakroom that, he had observed in his few weeks of working here, had the lowest amount of foot traffic at this time of day. The company's cafeteria served food from various restaurants around the area and Xeno had forgotten that Friday's selection was from a Thai place nearby. 

Xeno didn't feel he was physically or mentally rested enough to drive anywhere that wasn't straight home, so he opted for just braving whatever food selections were available even though he couldn't tolerate spicy food too well. He had asked the worker to give him the least spicest entree they had, but upon putting the first bite into his mouth, it was still too hot for his taste buds to handle. 

He had also searched the whole cafeteria and the nearby work area for any potential leftover coffee from the morning, but unfortunately he came up empty-handed. He had decided to settle for a canned coffee from a vending machine instead. 

Was the canned coffee sickingly sweet, packed with huge amounts of processed sugar, and had no beneficial nutrients at all? Yes. Did Xeno care at this point? No. He was desperate for anything to stimulate his energy levels. Canned coffee it was. 

Xeno often used the three-strike system to calculate how shitty his day was going. 1 strike meant the day was okay, if a 2nd strike happened the day was not well but tolerable, and if he surpassed 3 strikes then the day was stressfully horrible and he would have to tell his therapist about everything that occurred during their next session. 

Lunch could maybe count as half a strike, but at this time in his day he was well past strike three and didn't see a point in even keeping track anymore. He was definitely going to be telling his therapist about this particular day from beginning to end. He could only hope that no more strikes accumulated as the day went on. He really wanted to leave all this bad luck behind him and try to have a decent rest of the day. 

Most of his coworkers stuck to going out to eat, eating in the cafeteria, or retreating to their desks to eat their lunch. Xeno was hoping not to run into anyone he knew so he could finish his overly spicy meal in peace. He wanted some alone time to continue to reflect on the events of the morning to recollect and calculate what went wrong in order to better be prepared for future meetings. Xeno knew the area he was sitting at was the best possible spot to avoid any human interaction.

"Hey Xeno!!!"

Or so he thought. Xeno knew the owner of this voice all too well. He turned his head the opposite direction of where he heard the voice come from and attempted to make himself look busy. He could only hope some other human magically showed up out of thin air to distract the other man so Xeno could have some time to make a grand escape before he was doomed to interact with his coworker.

Xeno unfortunately knew there was only a slim 1% chance of this happening, so he mentally started preparing himself for a long conversation that he did not want to have. 

"Hey Xeno old pal! Great job at that meeting today! You really nailed it!" the voice said, pulling out the chain next to him to sit in. 

Great another strike to add. Xeno knew there was no way he could get himself out of this situation without being rude. So, he plastered on his best fake smile and turned to acknowledge the person beside him, who he knew was about to hold him hostage with a conversation for the remainder of his 45 min lunch break. 

Xeno was greeted with the grinning face of none other than Byakuya Ishigami. When Xeno had first started working at NASA and had met Byakuya for the first time he was starstruck. Oh how foolish he was to be, he wished he could go back in time and warn his past self about everything he had learned about the other man in the short amount of time he had been working here. 

Byakuya Ishigami was a retired astronaut who had boarded three spaceflights. Xeno could admit that Byakuya was brilliant and had outstanding credentials. The other man had been born in Japan, came from his home country to train at JSC, gained citizenship while training here, and had been a substantial scientist to every spaceflight he accompanied. 

Xeno has had a fascination with everything space related since he was a child. Which also ment he had high respect and admiration for every astronaut that had ever been into space. Byakuya Ishigami was not an exception and Xeno was thrilled when he met the other man in person.

That is until he personally got to know Byakuya on a personal level. When Xeno had first met Byakuya the other man was quick to make friendly conversation with him. He was not shy to share with Xeno his personal life story and anything that occurred in his daily life. Xeno had been too awestruck and had been charmed by the other man's warm kind demeanor that he had accidentally spilled his own personal life story to Byakuya.

Xeno had learned a valuable lesson after that and that was to never tell Byakuya Ishigami any information about yourself that you did not want everyone in the whole company to know about. Remember when Xeno said someone had leaked his past history to his coworkers? Yep. Xeno had a strong feeling, no scratch that Xeno knew it was Byakuya who had told all their coworkers about his past. Who else could it be? He was the only one Xeno had shared that information with in the company. No one knew him outside of work and he didn't have to put any of his background history on the job forms. 

So yes, Xeno now knew that Byakuya was quite a gossiper and not to tell him anything he wanted to be kept a secret. But that unfortunately was not the only thing that kept him from wanting to avoid conversation with the other man. 

Byakuya loved to talk about and over share his personal life with others. Xeno was pretty sure he knew everything about the older man, and he had only known him for a little over 3 weeks. Byakuya's life story was actually quite a popular tale around the company. Especially the story of how he met his internationally famous pop star wife, Lillian Weinberg.

When Byakuya had boarded his last spaceflight, his future wife Lillian was also going to be boarding the spaceship as a civilian tag along. It was part of a plan to help raise money to help fund the space program and was headlined as "First pop star in space!" all over social media. It was a huge hot topic and Xeno still remembers all the news clips and hype for the occasion. 

The story ends with the two of them falling madly in love and getting married as soon as they landed back on earth. It was quite a big scandal and at the time Xeno was 100% sure it was a fake relationship just for the publicity. But after spending time with Byakuya, he came to learn that the astronaut truly did love his wife. There was no way it was a publicity stunt with the amount of times Byakuya fawned over Lillian behind closed doors with no cameras around. 

"And then Lillian said the host for the event forgot his lines! Isn't that so funny!" 

Xeno just nodded and faked a laugh. He honestly has no idea what the older man was talking about. He wasn't paying attention. Instead he was trying to determine if there was any lie or excuse he could come up with that was maybe believable enough to get him out of the having to continue hearing Byakuya rattle on about whatever celebrity event his wife had attended recently. 

A few minutes passed and Xeno was considering using the good old "I have to use the bathroom" lie to excuse himself when the other man finally said something that caught his attention. 

"Oh! Senku told me Gen's never seen the ocean before."

Xeno still couldn't believe that out of all the children there at the daycare, that Gen could have picked to be friends with, he had chosen Byakuya's son Senku. Once again, he was left to wonder if Gen somehow knew the other child was the astronauts son and did it to spite him. But Xeno knew that wasn't the case. Gen often babbled nonstop about the other boy at home and seemed to have gotten close with him in the 3 weeks he had attended the daycare. 

Xeno couldn't be annoyed by that because he was glad that Gen had made a friend that genuinely made him happy to be around. Even if it was Byakuya's son. But Xeno was a bit agitated that because their children were friends, the astronaut thought they were automatically considered best buddies too.

Because of this Byakuya seeked out Xeno often and tried to strike up a friendly conversation whenever he could. Xeno strived to be polite about it since the man was his senior and he did still admire his work, but he also liked to spend his breaks alone in order to have a chance to collect his thoughts. 

"No Gen has never seen the ocean before"

Or at least Xeno doesn't think he has. He never remembered his sister mentioning that his nephew had been to the beach before. Gen was very young, so he seriously doubted he had.

"Great! Lillian is coming back home next weekend and we're renting a beach house out in Galveston to give the kids a chance to have one last summer memory before it gets cold! You and Gen should definitely come out! I know Senku would love to have Gen there to play with!"

Ah. Xeno wasn't too keen on the idea of having to spend his weekend at a beach house with not only Byakuya, but also his super famous wife. His first instinct was to say no, but he knew this would be something that Gen would really enjoy. 

Plus, it had been awhile since the two of them had gone out and done something, that wasn't grocery shopping, together. It would be a great opportunity to get them out of the house, have some bonding time that wasn't binge watching disney movies on the couch, and allow Gen to spend some time with his newly acquainted friend at a place that was outside the daycare. 

"I'll have to see how busy we are next weekend, but Gen would enjoy that."

"Great! I'll text you the details!"

The conversation continued with Xeno actually attempting to follow along and joining in from time to time. The idea of being able to show and experience the ocean with his nephew for the first time raised his mood and spirit. He couldn't help, but now look forward to making some possibly fun memories with Gen. He had been so busy with college and now raising the toddler that he hasn't had an easy weekend just dedicated to relaxing. 

Plus, it had been years since Xeno had last been to the beach. He recalls that the last time he went to the beach was probably his senior year of high school and he had gone with his childhood friend Stanley. 

* * *

The rest of the day went by thankfully easy with nothing hectic happening. Xeno was currently making his way back over to the daycare to pick Gen up for the day so they could go home. Today was Friday and because classes only occurred Monday through Thursday, Xeno had no classes today. He also only worked half days for his internship, so today was the one day of the week where he got off relatively early and had time to relax at home or do any chores he didn't get a chance to do during the week. 

He reaches the door to the childcare center and opens it up to be greeted by the loud chatter of multiple children playing. He can see Luna's back turned, currently dealing with a child who was pulling at her skirt for attention. She picks up the young kid and turns around to see Xeno. 

"Oh Xeno! I'll get Gen!" Luna says rushing away to another room where the toddlers were currently playing in.

He waits patiently thinking about what they should eat for dinner tonight, when Luna walks back out of the room holding a shoeless Gen and his backpack. 

"Ah sorry Xeno, we couldn't find Gen's shoes. It seems like he hid them again, but I promised we will find them and give them back to you next week!"

Xeno turns to his nephew to see the toddler grinning devilishly in triumph for having finally gotten rid of those feet trapping devices today. Gen had started playing this game of hide and seek with his shoes last week. He would take off his sneakers and then hide them away so no one could find them. Xeno hated to admit he was very good at hiding them in places where no one would think to look. Last week, Xeno had spent over 3 hours trying to find a pair Gen had hid just to finally find them under the kitchen sink. 

But unfortunately for Gen, Xeno now knew to come prepared because he wasn't going to let his nephew outsmart and embarrass him again like that. 

"Don't worry Luna, I made sure to pack an extra pair in his backpack just in case he did this again" Xeno says, coming over to unzip the backpack and pull out another pair of white shoes. 

Xeno slips them on Gen and can't help but smirk when he sees the toddler pout at having his master plan to get rid of his shoes fail. He hoped that the baby would get into his tiny skull that he had to wear the sneakers soon. He was getting really tired of this shoes game that Gen kept playing with him.

"Oh good you had an extra pair! I still promise to find the missing pair!" Luna says passing Gen and his backpack over to Xeno. 

"Thanks. Say goodbye to Luna, Gen" 

"Bye bye Wuna!" Gen tells her waving his little fist to say goodbye.

They say their final farewells before leaving. Xeno exits the building with Gen in his arms, ready to finally leave his work and head home. 

"You really need to stop being a troublemaker for everyone Gen" he tells the toddler opening the door to his car and strapping him into his car seat.

"We get ice cream?" Gen asks completely ignoring Xeno's comment about him not causing any more mischief. 

"Hmm maybe if you're good for the rest of the day we can get ice cream" he tells Gen, knowing dang well he is not giving the young boy anymore sweets for the day.

Gen seems satisfied with that answer and points to the iPad. Xeno hands it to him before going to the driver's seat of the car. 

Xeno feels some stress and tension leave his body as he backs away from the parking lot. Now that he finally got through that dreaded meeting and the day he can focus on the next stressful situation at hand. 

Tomorrow he was scheduled to pick up his childhood friend Stanley Snyder from the airport and it was going to be Gen and Stan's first time meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like the idea of Senku and Kohaku being siblings in fics. So in this fic Senku, Kohaku, and Ruri are Byakuya and Lillian's biological children.
> 
> Ruri is 4. Senku is 2. Kohaku just turned 1. Lillian is away often due to her work schedule, so Byakuya is a busy father!
> 
> If it isn't clear this story takes place in Houston near JSC NASA. I grew up in this area so I hope I can portray it well. 
> 
> I also promise Stan will show up in the next chapter. I'm excited for Gen and him to meet for the first time!


	3. Dino Chicken Nuggets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New Chapter!
> 
> Sorry it's late. But the good news is that this chapter is a little over 10k words long! So longer then the last 2 chapters combined.

"What a waste" Xeno said, dumping the coffee from the cup he had left outside into the sink. 

Xeno felt a tugging on his pants and looked down to see Gen grinning up at him.

"Ice cream now?" 

Xeno had told him earlier before they left his job, that he could have ice cream later if he was good for the rest of the day. It had only been 15 minutes since they made it home. 

"I said that if you were good for the rest of the day that ice cream was a possibility later. It's only been 15 minutes Gen."

The toddler pouts at his response before turning around to go sit down at the little table Xeno had put up in the living room for him to sit at when he played. 

Xeno hoped that the promise of ice cream would be enough encouragement for his nephew to be on his best behavior for the remainder of the day. 

Xeno put the coffee cup into the dishwasher and then bent down to open the kitchen sink cabinets. He reached for the caddy that held all the cleaning supplies. With the remainder of the time he had for today, he planned to give their apartment a thorough cleaning. It had been awhile since he spent more than an hour cleaning his home from top to bottom. It was hard for him to find the time to scrub down their place when he had to work, go and study for classes, and take care of a messy toddler that seemed to always leave a mess whenever he went. 

It was the perfect time to accomplish this task, especially since Stan was coming back home tomorrow. He didn't want his childhood friend to come into a dirty home and view them as slobs. They were more diligent than that. Xeno liked his apartment to be neat and organized and tried his hardest to keep it as so. But having a toddler living in your house made that a difficult feat. 

He put a nearby pair of gloves into the caddy before getting up and walking over to the living room to see what his nephew was doing. Gen was currently sitting at his little table scribbling on a piece of paper. Upon looking further Xeno noticed it was a picture of Gen and what looked like some other kids probably from his daycare. 

"What Joker think? Think Senkie like?" the toddler says, turning the paper over to show the stuffed rabbit that he had put to sit in another chair beside him. 

Gen called Byakuya's son, Senkie. He was at that stage where he liked to mention the other boy whenever he could. It was always Senkie this or Senkie that. Not that Xeno minded he thought it was strangely endearing in a weird way. 

"Gen I'm going to be cleaning today. You have to stay put here until I'm done." 

The young boy looks up at the mention of his name, tilting his head to the side. 

"Put on TV?" he asks, pointing at the television screen. 

Xeno reaches for the remote and puts the TV on. He decides on some Disney movie and when Gen doesn't speak up about what he put on, he drops the remote on the couch. 

"Remember you have to stay here until I'm done." Xeno tells him one more time before making his way to their bedroom. 

He really hopes that Gen listens. He always feels on edge when the toddler is in another room apart from him. He fears that he'll go to check on his nephew and he will just be gone or something worse. Xeno unfortunately has no other choice, but to leave Gen in the living room by himself while he cleans the house. 

He drops the container with the cleaning supplies on the ground near the bed and starts to take off his work clothes so he can change into something that he could spare to get dirty. He opts for putting on a pair of joggers and an old t-shirt. Xeno then picks up his phone and goes over to plug it into his charger so it could charge on the nightstand while he cleaned. 

Xeno was waiting for Stanley to call him. The other man was supposed to call him from a phone to update him about any potential delays, let him know when he was taking off, give him his flight and gate number, and tell him what time his plane was expected to land. Xeno had to make sure he took the call. Stanley was overseas and didn't have his own cell phone yet, so he had to use a payphone to call him. He made sure to put the volume all the way up on his phone and leave the door wide open as he exited his room, so he would be able to hear it from other parts of the apartment. 

He decides to start his cleaning quest in the kitchen and heads back there. When he arrives, he puts on his gloves and gets to work. While he cleans he can't help, but think about his childhood friend Stanley. 

Xeno had met Stan when he was a young boy. They had met a group home that Xeno was staying at with his sister at the time. He remembers he had been sitting under a tree in the backyard of the foster home, reading a book about supernova explosions, when he had suddenly been hit in the head with a ball. The other kids his age nearby where playing kickball in the yard. The children who lived with him had thought Xeno was strange and snickered when they saw the ball hit him. He already knew the other kids considered him unusual because they would often bully him.

Xeno was starting to get up to leave the backyard to avoid the other children from hurting him again, when he saw a pair of shoes approach him. He looked up and saw a silver haired boy with bright blue eyes looking down at him. 

"You alright?" he asked him, reaching out a hand to help him up. 

The boy who was reaching out to help him had just moved into their group home the day before. Xeno already knew that once the other kids started talking to the other boy and told him how strange and different he was, that he would not be as friendly to him next time and would join in the bullying eventually. Except that never happened. 

Xeno found out the silver haired boy's name was Stanley Snyder. He still held his guard up when he was around the other boy since he was used to being ridiculed against and had a hard time trusting others because of it. But Stan was never mean to him, in fact he was the opposite and tried to make friendly conversation with him when he could. Xeno found it odd and it took quite some time for him to finally open up to the other boy. 

But once he did start to trust Stan not to harass him as the others and opened up to him, they became very close friends. It always surprised others that the two of them were friends since they seemed to have nothing in common. Xeno liked science, astronomy, building things, and reading books. Stan liked history, firearms, airplanes, and drawing.

Even though they had different interests they still found the other fascinating. Xeno loved to hear Stan talk about his interests. It was always fun to learn about what the other boy liked and hear how thrilled he was about his passions. Xeno always enjoyed Stan's company and how the silver haired boy would always listen to him rattle on about his interests too without judging him. 

Even when Stan left the group home because of his family situation, they still stayed friends. They would talk and hang out with each other in school. As the years passed, they continued to be close. When Xeno's sister was old enough to gain guardianship of him and they moved into a new place, Stanley would often spend the night or even days at their home with them. 

Stan had a tough childhood just like him and came from a broken home. Xeno knows in the beginning his sister didn't trust Stan all too much and thought he was a troublemaker at times. But after seeing how close the other boy was with him, she started to open up to him too and saw him as a second younger brother. 

As they got older and where in their final year of school things changed. Stan had told Xeno he had signed up for the military one day while they were drinking milkshakes at a local dinner they liked to go to. Xeno had been surprised and not too thrilled when his friend had told him this. He shouldn't have been since Stan had mentioned a few times about possibly being recruited, but they had also talked about going to college together. 

When Xeno had tried to speak up and change Stan's mind, the other boy had just turned down his advances and told him this was the best option for him. He didn't have a big scholarship lined up for him like Xeno did and had no money to pay for an education. He also had no family to support him and wouldn't have anywhere to live soon because he was aging out of the foster care system that year. 

A part of Xeno was immensely upset about his best friend's decision and wanted to continue to try to change the other's mind, but another part knew that once Stan decided he was going to do something nothing would stop him from doing it. So he settled for spending the remaining time they had together that year, elegantly enjoying the other boy's company. They spent almost every day together up until the day that Stan was leaving to go to basic training. 

Xeno remembers the day clearly. He had never been great at showing his emotions or being affectionate with others, but that day he couldn't help but shed some tears and let Stan pull him in for a long hug. He felt like a part of him was leaving him, but in a sense it was because Stan had been his rock and only friend for over 10 years. 

The years after that they kept in touch as much as they could. Stan would call him whenever he could when he was at basic training. Xeno would tell him about his classes and the complicated material he learned that only he would understand between the two of them. While Stan told him stories about his horrible bunk mates and how strict and an ass his instructor was. Their phone conversations continued for 2 years, but it got more difficult for them to stay in touch when Stan got stationed overseas. 

Stan didn't have a phone and internet access was limited where he was serving at, so phone calls became almost nonexistent for them. Instead his childhood friend suggested they could exchange letters. Stan had told him it was kinda cheesy, but it was an option. Xeno of course accepted and started writing to him daily. They exchanged letters back and forth for the remainder of Stan's time in the service. Even when Stan was settled in an area that allowed him to make phone calls to him more frequently, Xeno still wrote to him. His best friend had mentioned once that he liked receiving letters from him because it gave him something to look forward to and read after a long day. 

His sister used to joke about how romantic their long-distance relationship was and would tease him often about being a fair young maiden waiting for his solider to return back home to him. Xeno would flush slightly pink at her comments because they weren't like that obviously, just very close friends. 

His sister's passing was another pressing matter that he recalls having to tell Stan about while he was overseas. He had waited a few days since he was so busy with everything that had occurred so suddenly, but on the next phone call he had with Stan he anxiously told him everything that happened. His childhood friend couldn't believe it, he had asked Xeno a million times if he was okay and told him that he would try to convince his commander to let him fly down there to be with him. They both knew that wasn't a possibility no matter how hard Stan begged. Xeno and him weren't biologically related so this wouldn't be able to slide as an emergency leave option for him.

Stan still tried and even after it didn't happen, he made sure to call Xeno every day he could. He had told him that his service buddies were nice enough to give up their calls on days they could to let him call him. Xeno would be forever grateful to his military pals for that because just being able to hear Stan's voice is what got him through the harder days. It was nice to know that he still had someone he greatly cared about with him, even though every time he talked to him it made him miss the other man more. 

Things continue like this until about a week ago when Stan told him the best news he had heard in a long while. His best friend had called him that last Friday night telling him that he had finished his service and they had offered him a job at a base near where Xeno lived. 

Xeno was ecstatic, he did wonder how Stan managed to pull that off, but he also didn't care because his best friend was finally coming home. Stan had asked him if it was okay if he could stay at his home until he had managed to find his own place to live and get everything situated for himself. Of course, he could what a foolish question. Xeno couldn't help but tell Stan that which had made the other man chuckle and say he didn't want to be a burden to him since he knew he was busy with Gen. 

Xeno was busy with Gen, but that didn't mean he was going to throw his best friend out to live in the streets when he had a home for him to live in. They would figure it out together. 

Xeno had been anticipating Stan's arrival all week. It's the thing that got him through this hectic stressful week and day. He was in a good mood, while he cleaned , thinking about how tomorrow he would be reunited with his childhood friend again for the first time in a long time. Nothing could dampen his mood. 

"Ice cream now?"

Except maybe Gen asking him again for the millionth time in the span of a few hours for ice cream. He cherished and adored his nephew he really did, but the toddler was very persistent when he really wanted something. 

This had to be about the 10th time Gen had come over to interrupt him cleaning to ask if he could have the cold sugary treat. He knew time wasn't an easy thing for young children to grasp and 10 mins probably seemed like hours to his nephew, but it was starting to annoy him. 

"Gen I told you if you are good you will get it later. If you come, ask me one more time you're not getting it at all."

Xeno had learned in the past few months that Gen was not a patient child. Nor did he react well to hearing that he wouldn't get something he wanted. His nephew's reaction to his statement was him falling down on his bottom to the floor while starting to sob his eyes out. 

He knew it was too good to be true, that they could go a full day without Gen throwing a tantrum. He was almost done cleaning too, he really wanted to hurry up and finish. Xeno had two options to solve the problem. He could ignore the young boy and let him cry it out till he realized sobbing wouldn't get him anything or Xeno could give in and just give  
him the ice cream so he could finish his chores in peace. 

Unfortunately, Xeno also knew that Gen had a set of lungs on him and could cry for hours on end if he really wanted to. He had witnessed firsthand to that enough times to know. He was at a loss of what to do. 

After letting Gen sob on the floor for 5 minutes to see if he would stop and he didn't, Xeno decided he was going to give in and be a bad parent today. He picked up the crying toddler and carried him over to the kitchen. Normally he wouldn't give into the toddler tantrums, but he really wanted to quickly finish cleaning for the day. 

He opened the freezer and pulled out a red box. Xeno had gotten these sugar free healthy strawberry fruit bars from the supermarket. He thought they would be a better alternative for Gen to eat than regular ice cream that was full of sugar. Xeno figured it wouldn't hurt too much to give him one of these now in exchange for Gen promising to be on his best behavior for the remaining time he needed to finish the chores he had started. 

As soon as Gen saw Xeno pull out the red box, he stopped sobbing. Of course. Xeno knew Gen was a great actor, the little boy was a master at being able to display certain emotions when it benefited him. Unfortunately for Gen, Xeno was starting to pick up on this and was slowly learning ways to combat the toddler's deceiving behavior. Just not today. 

Xeno closed the fridge and held out the popsicle at an arm's length away so Gen wouldn't be able to grab it from him just yet. He made his way over to his nephew's tiny table in the living room and sat the young boy down in the chair.

"Let's make a deal Gen. I'll take back what I said earlier and give you this now. But you must promise to be on your best behavior afterwards and let me finish cleaning, okay?"

"Okay." Gen says, reaching out with his little hands for the popsicle in Xeno's grasp. 

Xeno rips open the wrapper, takes the cold treat out of it, and hands the red fruit bar to him. He knows that giving into your child's tantrums is bad parenting 101 and encouraging the toddler to continue to use this tactic against him. But he didn't really see any other alternative and he hoped that possibly giving Gen the thing he wanted, but promising he can only have it if he was good, could be a loophole? Probably not, but Xeno would deal with the consequences later. 

"You have to eat it at the table and can't move until your finish" Xeno tells him before turning around to go continue where he left off cleaning. 

Xeno did not want to be cleaning red popsicle stains from the carpet later. He hoped his nephew listened to him and didn't move from the little table he was sitting at until he was done.

He went back to their bedroom to finish cleaning the room up. It was the place he had saved for last since it required the least amount of work. His apartment was only a one bedroom and as much as he wanted to transfer to a two-bedroom home to allow Gen to have his own room, he couldn't afford it at the moment. So his nephew slept in the same room as him for now until he could save up to afford a bigger living space for them. 

This however was a huge concern for him now that Stanley was going to be living with them. Xeno had no idea how they were going to deal with sleeping arrangements. He had a couch, but he knew that the other man was tall and would not fit comfortably on it. He had considered buying an air mattress for him, but he didn't want his friend to have to sleep on a makeshift uncomfortable bed for who knew how long. 

The only other option he could think of was Stan sleeping in his bed with him. Xeno didn't mind, they had slept in the same bed numerous times as children and in their teen years. The bed he currently owned was a queen size and could fit the both of them perfectly. The only issue with this option was that Gen had been sleeping with him in his bed since the first week Xeno brought him home. 

The toddler had a crib that Xeno had set up on one side of his room, but Gen would bawl his eyes out anytime he was in it and woke up from nightmares frequently. Because of this he had just started sleeping in Xeno's bed instead. It made things easier, but now he was wondering if maybe he should have enforced and tried more to get Gen to sleep in his crib from time to time. 

He knew he had to get his nephew used to sleeping by himself soon. The baby couldn't sleep in the same bed as him forever and he wanted to get Gen a toddler bed eventually. So he had to start getting the young boy used to sleeping by himself and this could be the perfect opportunity to try. He just hoped that it would all work out somehow and he tried to push the sleeping concern out of his conscious thoughts so he wouldn't anxiously tired himself out by overthinking about it. 

He was tidying up Gen's section of the closet and counting his shoes to see how many they had lost this week in this ongoing brutal shoe game, when he heard tiny footsteps approach from behind him. 

"I done"

Xeno turned around when he heard Gen's voice and was greeted with a horrific site. 

There stood his nephew with a red messy face, sticky red hands, and big deep stains from the popsicle on his shirt and shorts. Gen was also dragging his bunny plush Joker with him in one hand and the stuffed animal had also been stained red from the toddler touching him.

Xeno should have expected this. The fruit bar must have started melting before the toddler had a chance to eat it all quickly. He could only hope the carpet hadn't met the same fate as Gen and Joker. 

"I sticky" Gen said, coming closer to hold his hand out for his guardian to see. 

Xeno backed away not wanting for the toddler to stain his clothes too with his dirty sticky palms. 

"Wait there. Let me get a rag to clean you up" Xeno told him, trying to stay as far back from Gen's red stained hands, as he skidded around him before going over to their bathroom to grab a hand towel off the rack. 

He wet the rag with warm water and added a little soap before coming back over to the dirty toddler and crouching down to be eye level with his nephew.

"Okay let me see your hands."

Gen dropped the plush rabbit on the ground and brought his hands up too close to Xeno's face. Xeno pushed his hands back a bit, grimacing at how sticky they felt. He then closed the wet towel around Gen's hands and started to wipe his palms and then his face down the best he could to clean him up. 

Gen's face and hands were clean now, but his clothes were sadly not. Xeno looked over at the clock on his night dresser and saw it was about to be 6pm. He was pretty much done cleaning at this point, so his last remaining tasks for the day where to throw his nephew's clothes and Joker into the washer to get the stains out of them, take the toddler a bath, find something quick and easy for them to eat, and then head to bed so they could wake up at decent time tomorrow to be prepared to pick up Stanley. 

"Come on Gen let's get you out these dirty clothes and put them into the washer" Xeno says, holding his hand out for the young boy to take. 

Gen picks up his rabbit plush and then takes his guardians hand. They then make their way over to the end of the hallway where the washer and dryer were located. Once they reach the area, Xeno picks up Gen and puts him on top of the dryer so he can start taking the toddler's clothes off to toss them into the washer. 

Now came the hard part. Trying to convince Gen to let go off the stuffed bunny so Xeno could toss it in too with the filthy clothes. The toddler was currently sitting on top of the dryer, swinging his little legs with the plush hugged up against him. Xeno knew this was probably going to end up with Gen throwing another tantrum. The baby never went anywhere without Joker and anytime he forgot the toy it ended up with him sobbing. 

"We have to put Joker in too Gen. He's all dirty and needs to be clean." Xeno tells him, reaching out slowly to try and take it from his hands. 

"No" Gen exclaims, trying to scoot back away from Xeno and hugging the rabbit closer to him. 

"Look Gen I'm just going to put Joker into the washer to get clean and once he's washed you can have him back. He will only be gone for a little while. You don't want him to be dirty right?"

Oh, there they were. Gen's eyes were starting to glisten and Xeno could see the tears start to gather indicating he was about to start bawling. 

"No I don't want Joker to die!"

Xeno had no idea where his nephew had gotten the idea that the rabbit plush was going to die from being put into the washer. He couldn't help but be reminded back to the first week he had Gen and had explained in great detail death to him. He felt extremely guilty now about it and was now concerned if maybe his talk had badly affected the young boy if the 2 year old was worried about his inanimate toy dying. 

"He's not going to die Gen. He's just going to take a bath. Once he's clean I will give him back to you" Xeno tells him, trying to reassure the toddler nothing bad would happen to Joker. 

Gen still wouldn't budge and continued to cry while trying to get away from him. Xeno was worried about his nephew falling off the dryer, but he also knew if he put the black-haired boy down on the ground he'd probably take off running. He didn't feel like chasing after a hysterical toddler so maybe he could compromise with Gen instead. 

"Look how about if you let me put Joker into the washer to get clean, we can eat those dinosaur nuggets you like for dinner tonight?" 

Xeno despised those chicken nuggets. He thought they tasted disgusting and had no idea why Gen liked them so much. He had tried to convince his nephew to buy a better brand of chicken tenders at the store, but the baby had refused his option and wanted the dinosaur shaped nuggets instead. 

That got Gen's attention and he stopped trying to get away from Xeno and looked up at him. 

"Macarwni too?" 

Xeno should have known that Gen would try to add more onto the deal. The young boy always seemed to know that he was in control of the situation and could haggle more out of him. 

"Yeah sure I'll make you some macaroni too" Xeno agrees, reaching his hand out for Gen to give him the bunny. 

Gen sniffles before handing over Joker to him. Xeno takes the rabbit from him and then throws it into the washer. He puts the settings on before picking up Gen to take him into the bathroom so he can finally take him a bath.

He's glad he got over that obstacle with Joker. It only cost him to eat dino nuggets and mac n cheese for dinner. He would take having a bad food day over having to wrangle the toy of his nephew's hands any day. 

Xeno starts to fill up the tub with warm water while Gen was trying to decide what toys he wanted to bring into the bathtub with him, from the basket. Thankfully bath time was the one thing Xeno didn't have problems getting Gen to do. The young boy enjoyed taking baths and let him wash and scrub him down without too much trouble. 

"Put these?" Gen asks, coming over with an arm full of bath toys he picked out to play with while in the bathtub. 

Xeno turns off the faucet once it's filled up enough, grabs the toys from the toddler's hands, dumps them into the water, and then picks Gen up to put him into the tub too. 

Xeno hums a simple tune as he wets Gen's dark hair and then scrubs shampoo onto his hair. The young boy tries to swat his hand away, but Xeno ignores it. After he rinses the shampoo off his head, he backs away a bit to give the baby some time to play in the tub before he starts to wash his body. He watches as Gen plays with a toy turtle until he starts splashing the water with his hands. 

"Gen what did I say! No splashing!"

Gen giggles and starts to splash harder making even more water spill out of the tub. 

Xeno curses under his breath. He had just mopped the floors! He's about to get onto his nephew some more when he suddenly hears a ringing.

Oh. He had forgotten to grab his phone when he left the room. It was still currently hooked up charging to the wall, laying on top of his dresser. 

Xeno had never left Gen by himself when he was taking him a bath. He worried that the toddler would drown, and he didn't want to be known as the parent who irresponsibly let it happen. But he also knew that was probably Stan calling and if he didn't take the call, he wouldn't know any of the information about his flight and what time to meet him tomorrow. 

He was once again at a loss of what to do. His bedroom was just around the corner and he calculated if he ran over there to grab the phone and then sprinted back, he wouldn't be gone for more than a minute. He didn't think that Gen could drown in that short amount of time. So he got up and looked down at his nephew who was still splashing water out of the tub. 

"Gen I have to go take that phone call. I won't be gone that long. How about you sing that one Disney song about the mermaids while I'm gone" Xeno tells him, figuring if he can hear Gen sing the song while he's away he knows that the toddler isn't drowning. 

Gen looks up at him tilting his head to the side. He throws his turtle back into the water in exchange to pick up a fish that looked identical to flounder from the little mermaid. Then he proceeds to start loudly singing under the sea from that movie. 

Xeno sighs in relief and then starts to hurry over to his bedroom to grab the phone before it goes to voice-mail. He makes it to his dresser, grabs the phone, presses the answer button, and brings it up to his ear.

"Hey Xeno" Stan's deep voice greets him from the other line. 

He couldn't help the giddy feeling that washed over him when he heard the other man's voice. It always cheered him up talking to Stan and he couldn't wait to see him in person tomorrow. 

"Hello Stan" Xeno greets back, then pulls away a bit to make sure he can still hear his nephew singing. He can still hear Gen loud and clear, so he pulls back in. 

"As much as I would love to talk Xeno, my plane leaves in 10 minutes so here's all the information before I take off."

Xeno quickly goes to grab the pen and notebook he had placed next to his phone to write down all the information Stan gave him. As his friend names off all the details about his plane and arrival time, Xeno jots it down onto the paper. 

"Okay I got it St-" Xeno starts, but then he realizes he doesn't hear Gen's loud singing anymore. 

"Gen!" Xeno shouts before hanging up abruptly on Stan and rushing off to the bathroom. 

He would have to apologize later to the other man for yelling his nephew's name and then ending the call after. He hopes that he didn't concern Stan with the way he just hung up like that and potentially make him worried sick about it on his whole long plane ride back home. 

"Gen! Are you okay?" Xeno yells running into the bathroom. 

Unfortunately, Gen had splashed water far out onto the floor which caused Xeno to slip and crash forward onto the hard tiled floor. 

"Fuck!" 

Xeno didn't mean to say it. He tried not to curse in front of his nephew, but he had just harshly fell straight down onto the floor and smacked his chin against it. He didn't feel or hear anything break so he knew he would probably just be sporting a dark bruise later there. It still hurt tremendously, and he had to fight down the pain stricken tears he felt coming on. 

The shower curtains were closed and Xeno quickly sat up and yanked them open, feeling panic-struck hoping nothing had happened to his nephew. 

"Surprise!" Gen shouts, waving his hands in the air when Xeno pulls back the shower curtains.

Xeno was greeted to the sight of Gen safe in the tub giving him a cheeky grin like he had just performed the greatest joke ever. 

Xeno was not impressed. In fact, he was very upset and starting to feel the anger swell up in him about Gen's horrible surprise stunt. He told himself to calm down and try to reassure himself that Gen was okay, so everything was fine. 

"Funny?" Gen asks when he notices his guardian not laughing at his fun prank. 

"No Gen that was not funny. You cannot do that ever again okay. I was really worried about you." Xeno tells him, moving closer to the tub to start finishing up giving the toddler his bath. 

"I sorry" Gen tells him after seeing the distraught look Xeno was giving him over his mischievous act. 

"It's okay Gen just never do it again."

Xeno continues to explain to his nephew why his joke was bad while finishing up his bath. He was relieved nothing had happened to the young boy and reminded himself to never leave him again by himself in the tub. 

After he finishes up washing Gen, he grabs the nearby towel hanging on the towel rack. He then unplugs the bath drain and uses the towel to grab the dark-haired boy out of the tub. He pat dries Gen's hair and body and then picks him up so he can take him to their room to finish getting him ready for the night. 

"Have Joker now?"

Xeno backtracks when he hears the rabbit's name and heads over to the washer first so he can transfer both Gen's clothes and the bunny into the dryer. 

"Nope he needs to finish drying up just like you. You can have him after he's done." Xeno says, transferring everything from the washer into the dryer. 

He takes Gen to their bedroom and starts to finish drying the young boy’s hair up with the towel before putting some night clothes on him. 

"Want ones with flowers" Gen tells him, when Xeno tries to put a plain purple pair of pj's on him. 

Xeno walks back over to the dresser and pulls out a pair of light purple pj's with white flowers on them. His nephew was obsessed with the color purple and any clothes with flower prints on them. Xeno let the young boy pick his own clothes out when they went shopping since Gen was picky about what he wore. One time Xeno had tried to put him in a cute little NASA shirt he got from work and the toddler had thrown a tantrum over it. He told Xeno it wasn't cute, and he still felt slightly offended over the child's comment. 

Xeno looks over at the clock, once he finishes dressing Gen up, and sees that it's 7:05 pm. He usually put Gen to bed around 9pm and then he did any classwork he had for a few hours before falling asleep himself. Tonight, he was exhausted so he didn't plan to do any schoolwork and hoped he could fall asleep peacefully tonight. He had about 2 hours to make Gen and himself dinner before he put the toddler to sleep. 

"Let's go make some dinner." He tells Gen, picking up the boy from the bed to carry him into the kitchen. 

When they enter the kitchen, he puts Gen in his highchair and then walks over to the freezer to pull out the chicken nuggets to start heating them up. He sighs when he takes out the orange and green box with dinosaurs on it. Seems like today wasn't his day food wise. First the coffee, this his overly spicy lunch, and now these unappetizing dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets. 

They were running low on groceries too so he didn't really have a choice for other options, and he didn't feel like cooking a meal when he wasn't even sure if it would come out decently. Xeno wasn't the best cook. When he was living by himself, he had to set reminders for himself so he would remember to eat because when he got so wrapped up into projects and papers he often forgot to. Because of that he never bothered to learn how to cook and would just get takeout or dig through his fridge to find something edible to consume. 

He had been trying recently to improve his cooking skills so his nephew could have meals that weren't microwavable foods, but every time he tried it seemed that the meal was missing something and it came out tasting off. The toddler wasn't shy to tell him either. He had attempted to make them chicken alfredo not too long ago, but upon serving a plate to Gen, the young boy had taken a bite and then made a face while telling him it "tasted funny". 

He wasn't even sure what he did wrong because he had followed a recipe step by step from online. He remembers watching that Disney rat movie with Gen one day and the main lesson being "anyone can cook", which was obviously a lie because everything food wise he touched came out bad. Even though he wasn't blessed with professional cooking skills, or basic ones at that, one of his goals was trying to find a meal he could make that was somewhat edible for them. 

"Macarwni too!" Gen yells from his highchair to remind him. 

Xeno puts the chicken nuggets he microwaved onto a plate and then pulls out an easy mac to make that for Gen too. He wasn't in the mood for processed mac n cheese so he guessed that his dinner tonight was going to be him trying to force down these chicken nuggets so he wouldn't starve. He remembers that they had Chinese takeout in the fridge and maybe he could reheat that, but he can't recall if it had been more than a week since they ate that meal. Probably wouldn't be in his best interest to take chances and he mentally reminds himself to throw that out later. 

When the microwave timer goes off he takes out the macaroni, mixes in the ingredients, and then dumps it onto Gen's plate next to the chicken nuggets. He then brings both their plates over to table and puts the toddlers down on his highchair before sitting down at the table. 

"Yummy!" Gen exclaims before digging in.

"Uh huh yummy" Xeno says, taking a bite out of one of the nuggets and grimacing at how dry they taste. 

As he attempts to keep down the nuggets, his thoughts drift back to Stan. His friend had mentioned that his plane ride was going to be about 15 hours long. He had no idea how Stan planned to pass the time when he had no phone or anything of interest to keep him busy. The other man had also told him that he was going to stay awake the whole plane ride because he wanted to solve his jet lag quickly so he could have the same schedule as them. 

Xeno knew there's no way he himself could accomplish that without getting restless, but it was Stan so he knew the other man would have no issues keeping true to his words. His friend always followed through with what he promised and never backed down from any hard challenges he set up for himself or where thrown his way. That was one of the many things Xeno admired about his best friend. 

Thinking of Stan reminded him that this would be a great time again to mention the other man to Gen and about him staying here with them. He had told his therapist about his childhood friend coming to stay with them and how he was worried over how the baby would welcome Stan and the change. His therapist had suggested that he mention Stan more in passing to Gen and tell him every now and then that the other man was going to be staying with them. That way when the toddler met him for the first time, he would have a sense that he knew the man from Xeno mentioning him. 

He hoped that Gen would be able to put the name to the face upon meeting Stan and wouldn't be skittish or hostile towards him. Their therapist also said that mentioning Stan staying with them to Gen would get the toddler to possibly accept quicker to him being in their space now since Xeno had told him multiple times beforehand the silver haired man would be living with them. He could only hope that his therapist advice worked, and this change wouldn't cause more problems for Gen to surface. 

"Remember my friend Stanley who I told you was in the military, Gen?"

The young boy looks up at the mention of his name, his face filthy with food. 

"He solider?"

"Yes, he is a solider. He's going to be living with us for a while. So we have to be extra good while he's here at the house, okay?"

Gen tilts his head at his words. Xeno can only hope that his nephew understands what he's telling him. 

"This my house."

Well that was not the answer Xeno was expecting to hear. 

"No Gen this is yours and my house. Now it will be Stanley's too while he stays here."

Gen just gives Xeno a confused stare. If anything came out of this conversation it was that Xeno was at least glad to hear Gen, consider their apartment his home now. That was a great improvement from a few months ago when Gen would scream nonstop about wanting to go back home to his old house where the toddler and his sister lived at previously. 

"We are going to go pick Stan up from the airport in the morning. He will be staying with us starting tomorrow. We have to make sure we go to sleep early so we aren't late."

"Pancakes mornin?"

Stan told Xeno his plane was landing at 9:45 am. So they had to get up very early in order to have time to get dressed, eat breakfast, and drive in morning traffic since the highways to the airport were always busy during weekends. Gen wasn't a morning person. Sometimes Xeno had to literally drag the toddler out of bed because he would ignore his guardian when he tried to tell the young boy it was time for them to get up. 

Gen's grumpy mood upon waking up sometimes made Xeno late to work and other occasions. He knew they could not have that tomorrow because he didn't want to feel embarrassed and ashamed if they were late for picking up his best friend. Plus, he wanted to be there in person to greet Stan when he walked through the airport gates. His friend was a solider coming home for deployment and as cliché as it sounded Xeno wanted there to be someone there to welcome him home. Stan didn't have any other family members in his life to make that happen, so Xeno knew he had to be that for him. 

It seems Gen was determined to get those pancakes he wanted this morning and Xeno saw this as an opportunity to get Gen motivated and looking forward to waking up early tomorrow morning. 

"If you go to bed early tonight and wake up at an early time in the morning, then yes we can have pancakes for breakfast."

Gen was satisfied with that answer and finished eating his meal peacefully. Once he was done Xeno took both their plates to the sink and then put them in dishwater. He then came back over and took Gen out of his highchair to put him on the ground. 

"Let's go wash your face, hands and brush your teeth." Xeno tells him before guiding the toddler to their restroom so he could wash his hands and clean the food off his cheeks and mouth. 

"Joker now?" Gen asks as Xeno uses a wet rag to get the mac n cheese sauce off his face. 

"Yes he should be dried up, so you can have him now."

After Gen is cleaned up and his teeth are brushed, they walk over to the dryer to pull out the clean clothes and stuffed animal. Xeno hands Joker to Gen who happily takes it and hugs the freshly clean rabbit tight, satisfied that he's back in his embrace again. Xeno quickly folds the toddler’s clean clothes before balancing them in one hand while he ushers Gen back into their bedroom with his other hand. He drops the clothes into the dresser drawer and then picks Gen up to put him on top of the bed. 

"Okay Gen I'm going to take a shower really quick, so you have to wait here until I'm done." Xeno tells him, grabbing his nearby phone to unlock it and open up a kid's learning app. 

"I'm going to keep the door open. So, if you need anything or something happens just shout so I can hear you."

He hands Gen the phone so the toddler would have something to do while he's taking a bath. Once it seems like his nephew is content and not going to move, Xeno goes over to his dresser to get himself some night clothes to put on after his shower. He makes sure to close the door to their bedroom and lock it so Gen wouldn't be able to escape and roam their apartment by himself. 

Xeno didn't enjoy keeping the bathroom door open because of the breeze that came through that caused him to shiver in the shower. But he didn't want to close the door in case Gen needed him so he had no choice, but to suffer the occasional cold breeze for his nephew. He quickly jumps into the shower and tries to make it as fast as he could. Once he's satisfied that he got off all the gunk and dirty he acquired from cleaning today, he jumps out. He grabs the towel off the rack and makes quick work to dry his body and hair. He puts on a plain grey shirt and black shorts and finishes up getting himself ready for bed before exiting the bathroom. 

"Okay Gen I'm-" Xeno starts but stops when he sees his nephew asleep hugging Joker tightly to his chest and the phone placed beside him on the bed. 

The toddler must have been extremely tired after a long day and fell asleep quickly from exhaustion. Xeno walks over to turn off the lights to the room before he heads over to the bed. He picks up his phone and then tries to gently move Gen some so he can slip into the covers next to him. He was debating on trying to get the baby to sleep in his crib tonight, but decided that could wait till tomorrow. He didn't want to wake the young boy from his sleep. 

Xeno unlocks his phone and sets his alarm clock to wake up at 8am. He sets it back on his nightstand and lies down, staring face up at his ceiling. He mentally says his hopes and prayers, for whoever will listen to his pleas, that there are no nightmares for Gen tonight and that tomorrow goes smoothly with no problems. After he finishes asking anyone in the cosmos to fulfill his wishes, he turns on his side and closes his eyes. 

* * *

Xeno is awakened to a heavy pressure on his chest and something touching his cheeks. 

"Pancakes!" 

He opens his eyes and is greeted to the site of a grinning Gen looking down at him with his little hands on both sides of his cheeks. Xeno groans before reaching out to move the toddler off him. 

"Pancakes! Pancakes! Pancakes!" Gen happily chants trying to climb on top of his guardian again. 

Xeno rolls over onto his side so the toddler wouldn't be able to and reaches over to grab his phone to check the time. 

6:07 am. His nephew had woken him up almost 2 hours early before his alarm. It seems the promise of pancakes for breakfast had encouraged Gen a little too hard to wake up way too early and in a good mood. Now Xeno was the one waking up grumpy instead and he annoyingly regrets promising his nephew pancakes as an incentive to wake up early. The annoyance slips away when he realizes that his nephew was waking him up early for breakfast and not from a nightmare. 

Apparently, someone in the universe had answered his prayers last night and Gen had slept through the night without waking up in the early hours from night tremors. Xeno sits upright in the bed, his mood starting to lighten up too at this realization. He would take waking up at 6am over having to comfort his nephew at the dead of night any day.

Xeno pulls up the nightmare tracking app on his phone and clicks on last night's date on the app to check the smiley face icon and add the time the toddler had woken him up at. His therapist had suggested he used this app to track Gen's bad dreams so they could watch his progress to see if he was getting better. He was cheerfully glad to see the yellow smiley face icon on the calendar instead of another red sad face one. He hoped that this continued and Gen wouldn't have any more nightmares after today. 

"Pancakes!" Gen shouts again, climbing onto Xeno's lap and trying to push his phone away so he would pay attention to him.

"Okay okay I heard you the first time. We can have pancakes after we get ready first" Xeno tells Gen, moving the toddler off him again so he can get out of bed. 

They start their everyday morning routine. Xeno gets himself then Gen ready before they make their way to the kitchen. 

"Yay pancakes!" Gen yells from his highchair banging down his little fists on the table.

"Yes, you'll get them once they're done." Xeno tells him from the table with a coffee mug in one hand. 

His nephew was really enthusiastic about these pancakes. When Xeno was getting himself ready in the bathroom, Gen had taken it upon himself to go over to his dresser and pull out his own clothes to put on to speed up the process of them eating breakfast. Xeno still had to change his clothes because Gen had ended up putting on a purple shirt with a puppy holding flowers in its mouth on the front with orange shorts and mismatched socks. He changed his shorts to some grey ones and switched the socks out to match. 

The timer goes off indicating that the pancakes were done heating up in the oven. Xeno goes over and takes them out, cuts them into little pieces for his nephew to eat easier, and then puts them on a plate before walking over to finally give Gen that treat he had promised him if he woke up early. 

"Syrup!" Gen demands, taking the toddler utensil Xeno handed to him.

Xeno pulls out the syrup bottle and puts a tiny bit onto his pancakes.

"More"

"Just a little bit more and that's it Gen." Xeno tells him, tipping out a bit more. 

Once Gen is satisfied Xeno sits down and puts syrup on his own pancakes. They eat in relative silence until Xeno looks over and sees the toddler putting his fork down in exchange to start eating with his hands. 

"Gen no! You have to use a fork!" 

Xeno was trying to teach Gen how to eat food by himself and use utensils instead of his hands. This usually worked for about 5 minutes before the baby got tired of trying to use the fork and tossed it aside to use his hands instead. This did not go well and soon Gen's hands are all sticky with syrup and Xeno has to clean his hands up. He makes Gen resort back to using the toddler fork and makes sure to watch and correct him anytime he sees the black-haired boy trying to put it down for his hands.

After they finish eating Xeno puts their dirty dishes in the dishwasher before they make their way to the living room to relax until they must leave. It was about to be 7:30 am and Xeno didn't plan to leave the house till close to around 9 am. Gen was currently sitting as his little table coloring a Disney princess coloring book and singing a song from one of the movies that Xeno vaguely recalls might be from frozen, but he's not 100% certain. 

Xeno flips the TV and changes it to the news station to see what was going on in the world today. The weather is being broadcasted right now and it seems like this weekend’s weather was going to be sunny in the 90s. It was Labor Day weekend which meant that Xeno had Monday off from work and the college was closed. He had no idea what they should do for the next couple of days. He considered that Stan might be tired and want to rest up the whole weekend, but it was also rare for him to have a long weekend off. Maybe they could go out and do something fun since the weather was still nice. 

Xeno continues to watch the news and go on his phone occasionally until the clock reads 8:45 am. He had plan to leave closer to 9 am so he wouldn't have to deal any longer than he needed to with Gen at the airport. The airport was a big place and who knew how much trouble his nephew would cause in a short amount of time. But he's anxious and excited to see his friend so he decides to leave earlier so no sudden issues could arise that would make them late. 

He starts to grab Gen's backpack and everything else they would need for that day.

"Okay Gen we are going to leave now. You have to put your shoes on."

His nephew looks up at him from where he was on the floor playing with Joker and a purple furby that sang and danced that Gen had begged him at the store to get for him. Xeno didn't know furbies were back in style for children’s toys apparently. He found the thing slightly creepy looking and it would randomly go off sometimes when no one was near it, so that also made him weary of the toy. 

He comes over and picks Gen up to sit him on the couch so he can put his shoes on him. Besides his nephew giving him a displeased look, he lets Xeno put on his shoes with no issues. He hopes that the toddler continues to leave them on for today. He then picks Gen up and makes sure to double check that he grabbed everything before he heads out the door.

He buckles Gen into his car seat before he goes to the driver seat and drives off. Xeno hated driving on the freeway. It always made him nervous and now that he had a baby in the backseat of his car, he was even more anxious about it. He used to roll his eyes every time he saw a vehicle with one of those "baby on board" stickers, but now that he had a child he was wondering if maybe they served a purpose of alerting other drivers and them potentially giving him space on the road. He was considering getting one now next time he went to the store, but he didn't want to seem like one of those parents. 

Thankfully the roads were not too busy which surprised Xeno because he was sure they would be since it was Labor Day weekend. Soon they pulled up into the airport garage where he took a parking ticket from the machine and parked his car. He quickly rushed out to grab Gen out of his car seat before they started making their way to the elevator to go find Stanley's gate. Xeno glanced down at his watch to see it was 9:15 am. They had about 30 minutes to find the gate section where Stan would come out of. 

They were about 10 minutes into following directions and searching around the airport for the gate, when Gen pulled at the hem of his shirt and said he was tired. Xeno hauled Gen up into his arms and continued to follow the arrows leading to the area where you could greet your loved ones who had got off their planes.

He stopped when he arrived and saw a large group of people gathered around. He looked around to check if this was the place and once he confirmed it was the area, he walked around until he found a spot that wasn't that crowded where he could watch the door for Stan's arrival. 

He didn't want to put Gen down in case the toddler started to get fussy, so he continued to carry him. He was excitedly nervous that in just a few minutes he would be reunited with his best friend that he hadn't seen in over 2 years. He was brought back from his thoughts when he felt a dull pain on his chin and saw that Gen was poking the dark bruise that had formed there. 

"Stop Gen that hurts" Xeno tells him trying to move his hands away from his face. 

Xeno had looked in the mirror this morning to see that his harsh fall onto the hard floor titles in the bathroom, had indeed left a huge blue bruise on the side of his chin. The only positive he saw in his reflection was that because he had gotten more than 8 hours of sleep last night the dark circle under his eyes didn't look as prominent now. But he still thought he looked haggard and the dark bruise on his face wasn't helping. He just hoped that Stan didn't point out the bruise and asked him where he had gotten it from.

He was readjusting Gen in his arms when out of the corner of his eye he saw people starting to come out of the automatic sliding doors. He looked out into the crowd of people starting to make their way out, looking for a familiar face that he had been greatly anticipating to see all week. 

He felt Gen starting to poke at his face again and was about to scold him when his eyes landed on an attractive silver haired man with striking blue eyes in a military outfit walking out of the doors. The pain from his nephew touching his wound was forgotten and instead he felt a warmth spread through him as he started to make his way through the crowd to meet up with the solider. 

"Stan!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I mentioned Stan and Gen meeting this chapter, but I ended adding one to many scenes and by the time I knew it this chapter was to long! So sorry for that. I hope the long chapter makes up for that!
> 
> But I do want to do the next chapter in Stan's POV so look out for that!
> 
> I really like that one time when Gen called Senku, Senkie. So for this fic that's what I decided how he will address him!
> 
> Also some fan-art was made for this fic! The artist is @reuqii on twitter and can be found [here](https://twitter.com/reuqii/status/1300077949304164352?s=20). Check out the artist and thanks again for the art!! It's super amazing and adorable!


	4. Baby Blue Letters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New Chapter! This one was almost 10k words also!
> 
> This one is in Stan's POV so hope you all enjoy it! I had fun writing it from his perspective.
> 
> Stan mentions his troubled past with his mom in this one, so a slight warning for that! I don't believe it's to bad for a tag warning, but just a heads up.

"Gen!"

Stan hears the dial tone sound on the payphone go off. He pulls it back and looks down at it in disbelief. Did Xeno just hang up on him? He wonders what the hell happened that had his best friend yelling in full blown panic his nephew's name before cutting off the line with him. Stan couldn't even imagine what could have played out for Xeno to sound so alarmed. It appears anything was possible from the way he talked sometimes about how troublesome his kid was with him over their phone calls. 

Xeno's kid. It still felt strange to think that his friend was an actual parent now. It was one of those things where he couldn't believe it until he saw it with his own eyes. Just like he refused to believe that Xeno's sister was gone until he saw her grave for himself in person. His friend being a parent was a bizarre concept for him to picture. Not because Xeno wasn't good with kids it was solely just the fact that when they used to discuss their future plans for themselves, Xeno never once mentioned children or a family being a part of his. His friend would only go on and on about all this scientific stuff he wanted to do or make before his life ended. Stan wasn't even sure if Xeno was capable of loving and caring for anything more than his passion for science. He hated to admit that it made him feel slightly bitter anytime he realized this. 

So when Xeno had told him he was raising his sister's 2 year old son, Stan had felt some concern for the kid's wellbeing at the time. He seriously doubts the other man had any earthly idea how to raise a child. He wasn't surprised that Xeno had taken the young boy in. It was his nephew after all, he just had hoped that his friend didn't treat or see this as another project that he could handle with calculations and research answers or solutions for. Stan's concern was Xeno being too in over his head with this which would result in him crashing and burning when he realized that raising a child wasn't an easy feat that he could handle with only a logical perspective. 

When they had phone calls after Xeno had gotten custody of Gen, he had started to wonder if maybe his friend was trying to avoid telling him how things were going with him trying to raise the toddler. Xeno would often just try to focus on only asking Stan how his day went and steer the conversations away from any talk of his nephew or himself. But his tone of voice was off, and Stan could tell he was holding back the truth and avoiding the topic on purpose.

He knew that Xeno didn't like to burden others with his problems and tried to keep those concerns to himself. But even Stan could hear the slight restlessness and tiredness of his voice every time they spoke on the phone. It got worse as those first couple of weeks went by and even got to the point where it was frustrating Stan because his best friend didn't want to share his troubles with him. He started to feel fretful at times too from just hearing Xeno's uneasy tone and not knowing why the other man sounded like this because he wouldn't tell him. 

One day Xeno was in the middle of telling him about a scientific news article he had read about, but Stan wasn't paying attention to him. Instead he was concentrating on how his best friend sounded like he was going to start crying at any second. He couldn't take it anymore and had interrupted Xeno's talking, to tell him to cut the shit and explain to him why he sounded like he was about to break down. Of course the other man had tried to assure him nothing was wrong, but Stan wasn't going to have that. He told Xeno to spill everything to him now or he was going to hang up and not call him back. That had gotten Xeno to pause and then finally confess what had been happening with his nephew that made him sound so distressed on the phone. 

Xeno had told him that Gen was having violent nightmares that had kept them up for days straight. That he hadn't gotten more than 5 hours of sleep in the past week and wasn't sure if he would ever be able to sleep peacefully again since nothing seemed to work to calm his nephew's night terrors. Stan was at a loss for words after Xeno had frantically confessed what he was dealing with. He knows he had wanted to know, but shit he had no idea how to respond to that. He couldn't give Xeno advice because he had not the slightest clue either how to solve nightmare issues and he knew just telling the other man everything would be okay, when it more than likely wouldn't, wasn't something his friend probably wanted to hear. 

So instead he opted for telling Xeno that he was here for him when he needed someone to vent his problems too that involved any of his concerns whether or not they were about his nephew. That he wouldn't be able to offer the best or any advice at times, but Xeno shouldn't bottle up all those feelings and issues from him and instead tell him from time to time about them. He wouldn't judge or criticize him for anything, Stan just really wanted to know what was going on in his friend's life. 

Xeno had left out a small sniffle, that pained Stan to hear and made him feel immensely guilty for not being there in person to calm him, before telling him thank you. His friend still did try to not talk about his life too much, but he did mention more often than before things that occurred with his nephew. They would be talking on the phone and Xeno would sometimes let a few stories slip about the toddler. Stan had to admit they could be insanely wild and made him consider that maybe he should be more worried about Xeno's wellbeing instead of the kids. 

One story he recalls Xeno telling him about was how his nephew had thrown a tantrum over him not letting the baby have more oreo cookies. His friend had mentioned he had laid the oreo pack on the middle of the counter in the kitchen and carried a sobbing Gen to their room to let him cry it out. Xeno had left the door open, put Gen on the floor near his toys, and opened his laptop to start working on some classwork. 

He told Stan that the toddler had stopped crying eventually and once he saw he was just sniffling and starting to play with his toys he had turned back to his laptop to continue working. Xeno claimed it couldn't have been no more than 5 minutes when he looked up to check on Gen just to see he wasn't there in the room anymore. He had panicked and started frantically searching the house for him. 

He finally found Gen in the kitchen, on top of the counter, the oreo pack almost empty, and his nephew munching happily on a cookie in his hand with oreo crumbs all over his shirt and face. Apparently Gen had sneaked quietly out of the room to the kitchen, had pushed a chair close to the counter, climbed up the chair onto the counter, and then crawled over the stove to where the cookie pack was. But that wasn't the end to the story. Xeno had shouted Gen's name and the baby had gotten startled when he saw his guardian. The toddler had been too close to the edge of the counter and when he had leaned back he had accidently started to fall off it. Xeno told him he had to run quickly and basically dive to the ground to catch the toddler before he hit the tiled floor.

Xeno had tried to anxiously laugh it off and say it was a close call. Stan was bewildered because what the fuck, were 2-year old’s really capable of doing all that. Listening to the other man tell him numerous stories about his rambunctious child had Stan realizing anything was possible with Gen. So when Xeno hung up one him shouting the toddler's name, Stan knew there were too many possibilities that could have happened, that it was just better to ignore it and not worry too hard about it. 

He would see for himself what happened once he landed. Instead he had to focus on getting back to his gate before his plane took off. He put the payphone back on the receiver before leaving the booth. As he walked through the airport, he pulled at the collar of his uniform to try to loosen it up because it was hot as hell. He had asked his higher up if he could not wear the uniform, but they had rejected his plea and told him it was mandatory. He felt stuffy and knew he was in for a long humid uncomfortable plane ride. As he approached his gate, he saw that the majority of people waiting had already been boarded. He quickly makes his way over to the flight attendant, gets his ticket scanned, and makes his way into the plane.

This plane ride wasn't full, so Stan saw an unoccupied window seat in the back and made his way there. He took off his backpack before plopping down into the seat. He dropped his backpack on the ground, scooted it under the seat, and then turned to look out the window while he waited for the plane to take off. His plane ride was about 15 hours long.

It wasn't an issue for him since he had spent days before in one place on the field with his scope just concentrating on one spot waiting for the enemy to show up. But that still didn't mean it was not boring and this was not work so he wondered how he was going to pass the time. He had told himself he was going to stay awake the whole plane ride so he could avoid jet lag. He wanted to be on the same schedule as Xeno sooner than later. So staying awake was the fastest way to accomplish that.

The intercom comes on indicating that they were about to take off. The attendants come out to start showcasing how to use the life vests and other instructions. Soon after the plane takes off on the runaway and is in the air. Stan continues to look out the window and stare at the puffy white clouds that pass by in the blue sky. He wonders what Xeno is doing. It had to be around 7 or 8pm for the other man. Maybe he was eating dinner or dealing with the consequences of whatever had occurred with his nephew. His thoughts stayed focused on his friend and he couldn't help but think of old memories from his past.

When Stan was a kid he had been living in and out of foster care until he turned 18. He never knew his dad and wasn't sure if his mom even knew who his father was. Stan's relationship with his mother was difficult and toxic. His mom had a drug addiction and was in and out of rehabs constantly. As a kid she always promised him that she was trying to get better for his sake and told him she would come back for him. His social worker would bring up the topic of him trying to get adopted, but Stan always pushed the prospect of adoption to the side because his mom was going to be back soon to get him.

He was right she did return to retrieve him frequently, but the environment she lived in was extremely worse than the one he resided in at group homes. Because of this child protective services always ended up taking him away and putting him right back into the foster care system. His mother would then call him urging him to tell the courts and his social worker that he needed her and wanted to live with her. It took Stan years of repeating this vicious cycle for him to realize his mom was manipulating him. She didn't care about him at all, she just liked the control she had over him and the welfare check he provided for being under her roof. 

After he came to the conclusion that his mom didn't give a shit about him, he tried to cut ties with her. But that was difficult to accomplish because she was persistent and found new ways to exploit his emotions against him. Stan unfortunately had no other family to turn to. His mother's immediate family wanted nothing to do with her and in turn nothing to do with him. He often felt lonely but avoided making connections with others due to his past. That is until he met Xeno.

When Stan had met Xeno, he had been placed into the same group home as the other boy after his mom had failed the wellness check their landlord had filed against her out of spite for not paying rent. The other kids had welcomed him in and once he got settled, they had all gathered around him curious to know about the new kids situation. Stan wasn't in the best head space at that time and didn't feel like sharing his sob story. 

In fact, he disliked being in foster homes because the other kids had their own troubled pasts and issues that often affected those around them even if they didn't mean to. He found it suffocating because he was trying to forget his own shitty life problems and living with numerous other kids that came from difficult situations like him made that hard to do. He had actually considered running away from the group home. Where to, he had no idea just anywhere that would get him away from this house and his mom was fine by him. 

The kids at the home had asked him if he wanted to play kickball with them outside the day after he had arrived. He had agreed and they had been playing normally until one boy had purposely kicked the ball hard in the direction of where a blonde haired kid was sitting under a tree reading a book. Stan watched as the ball smacked the boy under the tree in the head and the group of kids laughed at his misfortune. He despised bullies. They reminded him of his mother and left a bad taste in his mouth. 

Stan felt the other children stare at him as he approached the blonde haired boy. 

"You alright?" he asked him, reaching out a hand to help him up. 

The other boy had told him yes before taking his hand, pushing himself off the ground, and then retreating away, without a second glance back at Stan, into the house. 

This incident left Stan curious about the other boy and thankfully he didn't have to question the other kids because they had told him right away everything, he needed to know about him. He found out the blonde haired kid's name was Xeno. They mentioned he was living in the group home with his older sister, didn't like to talk to the others, when he did talk it was about weird stuff no one cared about, and read boring big books all day. 

Stan couldn't blame the other kid for not wanting to talk to others. Also books were cool, he wasn't too keen on reading himself, but he did like to read the occasional history book from time to time and imagine how it must have felt like to live during that time. So Stan tried to engage with the other boy by making friendly conversation with him. The blond haired boy often ignored him or uttered dry short responses, but nevertheless he continued to be nice to him. Xeno seemed lonely and Stan understood how that felt because he too felt alone. 

One day the other kids were outside in the streets playing basketball when Stan had decided he didn't feel like playing anymore. He had pulled out a pack of M&M's from his pocket and made his way inside. Upon entering he saw Xeno sitting on the couch reading a thick red book by himself. Stan ripped open the pack of M&M's before coming over to the couch and plopping himself down in the empty space next to the other boy. 

"Want some M&M's?" He had asked him, holding out the pack to offer him some. 

Stan watched as Xeno looked at the pack of candy before bringing his hand up so he could tilt the pack and drop some into his awaiting hand. They sat in silence together eating the chocolate pieces until Stan looked over and saw Xeno had went back to reading his book.

"Whatcha reading?" He asked, curious to know what was so interesting that it kept the other boys attention occupied. 

Xeno had looked up at him and gave him an intense stare that had Stan feeling slightly on edge for asking. He could admit that sometimes Xeno had a burning gaze that made you feel like he could see right through your actions and thoughts. 

"It's a book about other galaxies. It discusses the possibilities of how there could be other planets that have life on them or at one point did home living creatures on their surface." 

Interesting. Stan had considered that aliens existed because how could humans be the only living beings in this big wide universe. Seemed unlikely in his opinion and he wondered if other planets out in the universe, that could sustain life, were like earth or completely different. 

"Wish I could run away to one of those planets. You think there's one out there that has chocolate oceans? Kinda like in that willy wonka movie with the chocolate lake. That would be cool, I always wanted to dive into one of those."

Stan glances over at Xeno to see that the other boy had lowered his book to fully look at him. That was a first. Usually when he tried to talk to the other boy, he would just utter a quick response back without looking away from his book. 

"There could be. There are trillions of different planets out there that you can't say it's implausible for there to be one that doesn't cater to what you want…. I would like to live on a planet that produces potassium nitrate and sucrose naturally to make endless amounts of rocket candy for fuel."

Stan had no idea what any of those ingredients where or what rocket candy was, but he was curious. He asked the other boy to tell him what those were and soon they entered a long conversation, with Xeno scientifically explaining the concept of making homemade sugar rockets to Stan which then led to them excitedly discussing how they would customize their own planets to their personal likes. That was the first time Xeno had opened up to him and after that the other boy continued to talk to him more frequently. It wasn't long before they became really close friends. 

Stan enjoyed Xeno's company. The other boy was a great distraction from his everyday problems that he greatly needed. He loved that they could just talk about sci-fi movies, insane conspiracy theories they heard about, debate controversial topics with each other, or just talk about whatever interests the other was into. It was never boring, even when Xeno spilled on about concepts he didn't understand. He liked to listen to the other boy rattle on about science and his friend never looked down on him for not understanding. It was fun and Stan cherished every day he spent living with Xeno at that foster home. Even when his mom came back to take him from the group home, they still stayed friends. 

They talked in school and when Xeno's sister was old enough to gain guardianship of her brother, Stan was able to spend days at their home to hang out with his friend. In the beginning Xeno's sister was exceptionally weary of him being around her younger brother. Stan didn't blame her, he knew he had behavioral issues in school. The other kids would sometimes tease him for his effeminate features which lead to harsh verbal confrontations and at times fights. When he became friends with Xeno those problems involving other kids escalated because his friend got bullied often and Stan wasn't scared to stand up for the other boy even if it meant taking violent measures to stop the harassment. 

Stan recalls one day where he had thrown a punch at a group of kids who had cornered Xeno and taken his backpack to dump all his belongings on the ground. His friend had jumped into the scramble to try to stop him which had ended up with him getting hit too and landed both of them in the principal's office. Stan had taken all the blame by saying he threw the first punch and Xeno was just trying to get him off the other kid. Xeno's sister wasn't thrilled about the situation and had forbidden her brother from hanging out with him again. Until Xeno had confessed to her about all the bullying that had been happening to him and that Stan was just trying to protect him. That seemed to open his sister up to having a different mindset about Stan. 

After that Xeno's sister was nicer to him and as the years went by she even started to see him as a younger brother. Stan would forever be grateful for both Xeno and his sister for letting him experience what it felt like to have a family. He truly did consider them both important to him. As they got older things were the same as always except for one little thing. 

Stan's feelings for his best friend went from friendly to romantic. He didn't mean for it to happen. It had started around when he was 14. He had realized he liked Xeno more than others, then it evolved into him telling himself he couldn't see himself loving anyone romantically except maybe Xeno, and finally ended with him coming to terms with having a slight crush on his friend. 

He found it annoying and wished his stupid emotions wouldn't get in the way of warping his perception of the other boy. Stan tried to ignore that smitten infatuation he had for his best friend and had even tried to date a girl in high school to force the feelings away. Unfortunately, that ended quickly because he realized he felt nothing romantic for the girl and anytime he was with her he couldn't help but wish it was Xeno instead. 

Stan remembers one day letting his curiosity get the better of him and had asked Xeno if he liked anyone or had ever had romantic thoughts for another before. His best friend had just given him a blank stare before telling him no. It got awkwardly silent after his response which left Stan feeling dumb for asking. He never asked the other boy anything pertaining to romance ever again after that. 

So as the years went by Stan just buried those feelings deep and ignored them the best he could. He enjoyed Xeno's friendship too much and wasn't going to let his stupid crush ruin that for him. Things between them continued smoothly until it became complicated again during their senior year of high school. 

Xeno had been accepted and offered a big scholarship to some prestigious college. Stan was ecstatic for his friend, but this also made him question what he wanted to do after he graduated. He was aging out of the foster care system that year, so soon he wouldn't even have a place to live at. He had no family support, so he was pretty much off on his own in this big wide dangerous world once school ended. He knew he could probably live on the streets fine since he had basically fended for himself anytime his mom had taken him back to live with her in the run down parts of town. But it didn't mean he wanted to. 

Xeno and him had often talked about going off to college together. As much as Stan would love to accompany his friend to a campus, he knew there was no way he could afford that. Plus, he really had no idea what he even wanted to pursue as a major. The only other option he had was joining the military. He had a few recruiters always chatting him up at the school trying to convince him to join. He knew that he was basically selling his soul and sanity to the government forever if he joined, but the military route kept him off the streets and he already believed he had a shitty childhood so he didn't feel like it could get worse than that. Plus he was fascinated by planes, had always wanted to learn how to fly one, and liked firearms. So he saw more pros than cons choosing this route. 

The only thing preventing him for going over to a recruiter during lunch hour and signing up was Xeno. He already knew the other boy wasn't delighted about him even considering the military much less joining. He had expressed harshly to Stan how he disagreed with that plan. But Stan also knew that Xeno had his whole life planned out already and he had to start thinking about his own future. Even if it went against what his childhood friend wanted for him. 

So he had decided to join the military. He had waited a few days to tell his friend his decision. He knew Xeno would probably start rambling on about why he should go tell them he changed his mind. But he had to get it over with, so one day while they were at their favorite diner drinking milkshakes, he dropped the news on his best friend. Just like he expected Xeno did not take this new information about his plans after graduating well. The other boy had tried to change his mind, but Stan had stopped his advances because he had already decided what he was going to do and wasn't planning on changing that. 

The atmosphere after that announcement was tense and Stan ended up going home after that feeling slightly guilty for crushing his friend's hopes and dreams of them going to college together. Xeno had called him the next day in the early morning asking to meetup at a nearby park. When he had met up with his friend, the blond haired boy had handed him a thick stack of papers and told him he had typed down all the reasons why he shouldn't join the military. Stan was speechless, he couldn't believe that Xeno had really typed up and handed him a 24 page list of disadvantages for joining the service. 

Xeno had then left and told him that he didn't want to hear from Stan again until he had read the whole packet and changed his mind about his future plans. If there was one thing that bothered Stan about Xeno it was that he could be a brat sometimes when things didn't go his way. He was annoyed that the other boy was expecting him to read this huge ass list he had typed out, even though he didn't plan to let anything get in the way of what he had already decided. 

Stan had sighed and walked over to a nearby park table to sit down and start looking through Xeno's very detailed packet. He had to admit that his friend had put a lot of work into typing this list out and wondered if he had stayed up the whole night working on it. There were facts, numbers, bullet points under reasons for extended reasons, and some even had citations at the end of them which had made Stan chuckle because leave it to Xeno to have a reference page at the end of a "100+ valid reasons why Stan shouldn't join the Armed Forces!" list. 

He skimmed through most of the papers, just reading over a few that had caught his eye. Most of them were just the typical facts about how harsh war and being stationed overseas was and how veterans came out with various mental and physical issues. It wasn't until he got to the last page of the list that made him stop and almost consider changing his mind.

At the end of the list, Xeno had listed reasons why he didn't want Stan leaving him. There were just a few, but they still made him feel immensely guilty all over again.

_I would miss Stan.  
Stan is my only friend.  
Something horrendous could happen to Stan overseas.  
Stan might forget I exist while he's away.  
I might never be able to talk to or see Stan again. _

Xeno had a hard time opening up about his feelings and personal thoughts pertaining to himself. Stan knew this and seeing his friend express his personal worries about him leaving had him almost debating going up to the recruiter tomorrow, finding his application, and ripping it up. 

He closes the packet before making the long walk over to Xeno's apartment. Once he arrives, he knocks, the door cracks slightly open, and there stands Xeno looking up at him nervously through the crack. The other boy opens the door silently and Stan leads him over to his kitchen table so they could talk about Xeno's list and his decision. He calmly explains to the other boy his reasons for why he's joining the service, explaining in detail why this was the best option for him. Xeno thankfully doesn't interrupt and just listens. It's not until he's done that his friend tells him that his sister would be more than happy and willing to let him stay with them until he could come up with another option.

Stan knew that she would. But he also knew she was working multiple jobs just to keep Xeno and herself alive. He didn't want to feel like a burden and be just an extra person for her to take care of. He couldn't do that, and he explained that to Xeno too. Besides his friend pouting cutely at his true statement, he didn't try to argue with him anymore. Stan was glad even though he knew Xeno still didn't agree with him.

They were able to spend the rest of their school year and summer having fun and enjoying the remaining time they had together. Unfortunately, the day that Stan had to leave to go to training snuck up on them fast. He still considers that day one of the most emotional ones he had ever experienced. It was rare for him to see Xeno cry, so when he was saying goodbye to the other boy he felt his heart shatter when he saw his childhood friends eyes glisten and tears start to fall. 

Shit. Stan had hoped it wouldn't be hard to say goodbye, but Xeno had once again made him feel extremely remorseful and had him considering changing his mind at the last minute. Which he knew was impossible at this point, so instead he pulled Xeno into a tight embrace, rubbed smoothing circles on his back to calm him down, and whispered reassuring words to him, telling his friend that he would come back safe and that they would always keep in touch. 

He kept his promise. When he was at basic training, he was given phone privileges and he made sure to call Xeno every day. Hearing his friend tell him about his classes, what he was learning, and normal daily stuff he did is what got Stan through the hellish days he had to endure in training. His days were tough, but knowing he had a phone call with Xeno at the end of the day was enough encouragement for him to continue on. Their phone conversations lasted about 2 years before things became troublesome when he was stationed overseas.

He had limited phone capabilities while overseas, so it was going to be difficult to continue to keep in touch with Xeno. He was trying to come up with solutions when he remembered that one of the guys serving with him exchanged letters with his wife. He admitted it was quite an intimate romantic cheesy thing to do with someone,  
but it was worth a shot to bring it up with his friend. Xeno had agreed and soon Stan had his first letter from the other man waiting for him in the mailing room. 

Xeno's letters were a lot. Not a lot in a bad way, more like his writing was diligent, proper, detailed, long, and Xeno's favorite word, elegant. Even so Stan enjoyed reading them and liked them a bit more than the phone calls because they were more personal and gave him something to look forward to during extensive weeks. 

He remembers his service friends had often asked him if his girlfriend had written to him again when he received another letter. He could understand why they thought this because Xeno's letters were bright blue and he had written Stan's name in neat pretty cursive on the front. He had asked Xeno one day in a letter why he sent his messages in baby blue envelopes, and his friend had told him that his sister had picked them out for him in the beginning and so he just was planning to use them until they were gone.  


Stan never corrected his military mates every time they asked. He felt it was too much trouble to explain to them and he didn't really care for them to know. And a small part of him shamefully self-indulged into this fantasy idea of Xeno being his lover and sending him intimate letters overseas. 

As the years went by the letters Xeno sent to him started to multiply by the dozens. Stan made sure to keep every one that his friend sent him. He had started with putting them in a small box, but soon that box became full and too tiny to house the other man's delicate letters. Stan had to find a bigger storage space for them. He ended up finding another box that was bigger and had started piling up more letters into that box as more years went by. 

When Stan was coming back home, he had planned to take all the letters back with him. But because there were so many of them, they ended up taking up more room in his duffle bag than any of his personal belongings. Which was fine by Stan the letters that Xeno sent to him meant more to him than anything he owned overseas and he was willing to leave everything behind if he had to, to fit them all. Thankfully everything fit perfectly, and he was able to bring his belongings and the letters back home. 

"What would you like to drink sir?" 

Stan was interrupted from his thoughts and turned his head towards the voice. He was greeted to the sight of a flight attendant who was giving him a coy smile and batting her eyelashes at him. He ignored her question and looked outside wondering what time it was. The sun was going down over the horizon, but they were also traveling over multiple countries. So it was hard to tell how much time had passed. 

"Where are we and what time is it?" He asked, turning back to face her.

"We are currently flying over Sweden and the time is 7:20 pm. We have been in the air for a little over 5 hours."

5 hours. That meant he had about 10 more hours left. Great. To him it seemed as though he had been daydreaming for over 10 hours not 5. Stan felt exhausted, but knew he had to keep himself awake. 

"Drink sir?"

"Just a water." He tells her before reaching under his seat for his backpack. 

When he comes back up, he sees that the flight attendant is gone. He unzips his backpack and pulls out a stack of bright baby blue envelopes. When he had been packing, Stan had decided to put his favorite letters that Xeno had sent him into his backpack. He thought reading them would be a nice way to pass the time. He had packed quite a lot of them so he hoped he could spend another 5 hours or more rereading again all his personal favorite letters that Xeno had written to him. 

He pulls one out of the stack and opens it up to start reading. This one had been one of the first ones that Xeno had ever written to him. The other man had been selected to attend a conference as a student and present his research work during a panel. Xeno had been so excited and told Stan this was an important first step for his future professional career in the field. Stan had liked this letter because of how enthusiastic Xeno was in explaining to him what he was presenting and him casually asking Stan to spill the military's top secrets involving nuclear weapons. The blond had used a bunch of explanation marks to express how genuinely thrilled he was. Stan found it cute.

_Dear Stan,_

_I was selected to attend an Astrophysics conference in San Francisco as a student! This will be a great opportunity to showcase my knowledge in the field and impress my future colleagues! I will be discussing how there is an abundance of lithium isotopes in halo stars. Isn't that fascinating?! Did you know that lithium is a light element and has two stable isotopes? These isotopes are Li-6 and Li-7. Li-6 is extremely rare and Li-7 has been linked to have been formed and created by the Big Bang! Besides lithium being a key diagnostic to test and understand the primordial universe, it can also be used as an ingredient to make hydrogen bombs! Li-6 and Li-7 can produce tritium when bombarded by neutrons! Tritium is an important and essential component for all U.S. nuclear weapons! I read that tritium was the reaction responsible for the Castle Bravo nuclear test. Operation Castle Bravo is the largest recorded nuclear explosion in the U.S.! This operation took place at Bikini Atoll which was being used by the U.S. military for nuclear weapons testing and research. I viewed pictures and videos online of the explosion and it was elegant! Do you know of any other secret nuclear weapon operations being done behind closed doors?_

_Your Friend,_

_Xeno_

Stan often wonders if Xeno forgets he is part of the Air Force and was a fighter pilot. He had no knowledge about nuclear warfare or any secret operations that were happening among the military. This was about the time when the other man had been strangely obsessed with nuclear wars, weapons and rockets. Stan didn't worry too much since it was Xeno and his friend frequently focused on a subject for a short time before moving on to research something else. He did find it amusing that Xeno would casually describe different top-secret operations within the military and then try to ask Stan if he knew of anymore. Firstly, Stan wasn't a high enough officer yet to have any idea about what confidential projects went on behind closed doors and secondly even if he did there was no way he would be able to tell Xeno about them. He did have to give his friend credit for trying though. 

Stan continued to read through the numerous letters he had arranged into piles on the empty seat next to him. Most were just about Xeno describing his research and day. But there were also some that were interestingly specific such as a letter where the blond was telling him he had made a polygraph for one of his classes and was researching if there was a way he could make a portable lie detector device such as a glove or some hand accessories. This letter had followed up with another letter of Xeno telling him about many different mind control projects that the CIA and military had conducted and once again asking him if he knew of any more happening. Stan had told him no, but from the way the other man was talking he wondered if he was trying to find a way to combine the two somehow. He wasn't sure if that was possible, but he didn't put it past Xeno to try. 

Hours passed and Stan was almost done reading all the letters when he picked up one of them and opened it up to see the writing inside was about Xeno telling him the news that his sister was pregnant. The other didn't seem too delighted by the news when she had first told him. Xeno mentioned how he had asked her who the father was, and his sister had said it didn't matter because he wasn't going to be in the picture. Stan had just been finishing up 4 years of service when he found out Xeno's sister was pregnant. He had put in enough time at that point to make a pleading case to his commander to let him go home for the holidays that year. Unfortunately, the mission they were on went over and he didn't get to go back to the states until around April.

Still it was nice to see Xeno and his sister after 4 years and he spent a little over a week with them. She had been a few weeks over 2 months pregnant at that time. It wasn't too noticeable, but if you looked hard enough you could see the slight bump of her tummy. That last day he was in town, Xeno's sister had made him a makeshift Thanksgiving dinner and the two siblings had bought him Christmas gifts to open. Stan's past self had no idea that would be the last time he ever saw and talked to the woman, who had been a caring sister figure to him for years. 

When he had called Xeno that dreadful day, 2 years later, and the other man had told him she had passed away in an accident, Stan had refused to believe it. The memories of them gathering around the living room, laughing and having a good time while he opened up his gifts had come rushing back to him. He supposed those were nice final memories to have of someone you cared about who had passed on, but Stan still refused to accept it. He tried to ignore accepting it until the letters Xeno's sister used to send to him stopped coming in the mail. That was when he realized it wasn't a big lie. The other blonde sibling had sent him letters too along with Xeno. Her letters weren't as frequent as his childhood friends, but she did send them when she could. 

They had rarely talked on the phone since Xeno's sister had told him in a letter once that she knew he had limited phone calls and wanted him to use them to talk to her brother instead. Now Stan regrets not calling her more often. One of the things he planned to do when he landed was go to her grave. He wasn't sure if Xeno was ready to see his sister's resting place again after the burial, but he had to see it for himself and would go alone if he had too. He was also going to give Xeno the small stack of letters that his sister had written to him. They were nestled in a small section of his duffle bag and he believed it was best if his friend had them. 

"Here is your dinner sir."

Stan looked up from reading the letter to see it was the same flight attendant from before handing him a dish with a grin trying to catch his eye. He took it from her grasp without looking in her direction and saw it was a burger. Or at least it was designed to be a burger, it had pretzel buns and a bunch of other fancy ingredients in it. The plane ticket came with a dinner entree since it was a long flight. When the stewardess had come over and tried to hand him a menu, Stan had just told her to give him whatever was the best thing on it. Food was food, he wasn't picky and he rather just ask someone what was good then having to pick through multiple options. 

He ate in silence as he looked out the window. The pilot had announced earlier that they had about 6 hours left so he estimated that was probably almost 5 now. He was starting to feel anxious. Not because he was nervous, it was because it had been over 10 hours since his last smoke.

Stan had developed a smoking habit when he was in the military. He remembers in that huge packet that Xeno had made for him, listing reasons for not joining the armed forces, he had read a part about addictions that military personnel could develop while serving. One of them had been nicotine usage and stated that most people started using tobacco because of peer pressure, boredom, anxiety, and stress. Stan agreed with that statement 100%, now that he was an addict.

It had started at basic training. When the recruits were in the fields training for hours on ends in the heat, they barely got any breaks. The only time they were guaranteed multiple resting periods was when they asked for smoke breaks. The newer trainees didn't know this in the beginning but started to pick up on it as the days went on. The older recruits had also informed and offered them cigarettes, telling them if they wanted breaks from excessive work this was the way to get them. Stan had caved a few times during days when he felt like he was going to collapse from heat stroke from spending long hours out in the sun. The longer he used this excuse the more he became reliant on them. 

The habit became worse when he was stationed overseas. They were sometimes out in the field for hours, days, or weeks on end. The troops had to be silent in case the enemy showed up, because of that it got boring fast. Smoking gave them something to do and pass the time. Not to mention that they were also in stressful situations, anxiously waiting for the enemy to make an appearance and wondering if anything would go wrongly astray making the situation become fatal. Cigarette smoking and addiction was common in the service and Stan had fallen victim to it. 

Stan remembers the first time Xeno had learned about the smoking habit, that he had warned him about in his little packet he typed out for him years prior. The secret was let out of the bag when he came back that time in April and was on Xeno's sister's apartment front balcony taking a smoke break. He had lit the cigarette, brought it to his lips, inhaled, and then exhaled the fumes. He had heard the front door open and turned around to see Xeno. There stood the blond about to say Stan's name, stopping when he saw what he was holding in between his fingers, and then giving him a mortified face. 

"Stan what are you doing!" Stan recalls Xeno saying before the shorter man had come over and tried to take it out of his hand.

Stan had held the cigarette high above Xeno's head so he couldn't reach it. They were expensive and he wasn't going to let him take a new perfectly lit smoke from him and probably throw it over the balcony knowing his friend. That had made Xeno angry and Stan had to endure the other man lecturing him about how ingesting toxic fumes into his body was detrimental to his long-term health. His whole week stay at the sibling’s residence was Xeno pestering him nonstop, trying to get him to give up smoking. During his short visit, his childhood friend had shown him numerous anti-smoking campaign videos and made him read many articles about the disadvantages for using tobacco products. 

This was the only reason Stan was restless about seeing Xeno again. He had a feeling that the blond would be more persistent, in his goal to get him to stop smoking, this time around now that he had his nephew living under his roof. But he enjoyed Xeno's company and friendship too much to let that reason get in the way of him being in the other man's space. He was willing to suck it up for that. 

Stan spent the rest of the time on the plane ride trying to find things to pass the time. He felt on edge from the low levels of nicotine in his body and he supposed one advantage to that was it kept him from falling asleep. He could feel himself getting restless and couldn't stop bouncing his leg in place. He had gotten up and tried to walk it off in the plane, but that course of action had been ruined when the flight attendant from earlier had cornered him into a corner like prey to try to ask him questions about himself. He could see her other stewardess coworkers watching from afar as she twirled her hair and tried to engage him in conversation. 

Stan did not feel like answering personal questions from someone he would never see again in his life. He excused himself from her persistent attempt at flirting by saying he had to use the bathroom. Then he holed himself up in that washroom waiting for the perfect opportunity to walk fast back to his seat before she saw him again. 

Once he saw it, he made his way back to his seat before sitting back down and making himself look busy. He could still feel her gaze on him and just hoped she got the message he wasn't interested. Time seemed to go faster after that and soon the pilot came back on the intercom to tell them they would be landing in 10 minutes. 

Finally. Stan looked back out the window and sure enough he could see the city coming into view. He was ready to get off and be on land again. He loved flying planes, but he would much rather be the one flying them instead of being a passenger. He made sure that all the letters were back in his backpack before he zipped it up. Soon the plane is touching down onto the landing, wheeling into the airport, and the pilot coming back on to thank them for flying with the airline. 

The people in the front start exiting and Stan waits patiently until it's finally his turn to exit the plane. Well this was it. He was finally going to be reunited with Xeno again after two years. He wasn't anxious about seeing his best friend since he had known him for years and he knew it would go fine. What he was nervous about was meeting the kid. He had never met or seen the young boy before since Xeno' sister had still been pregnant the last time he saw her. So he had no idea what to expect. He didn't think it would be too bad since he was only 2 years old. But the stories and information Xeno had shared about his nephew had him slightly worried the meeting would not go smoothly. 

He notices up ahead are the automatic sliding doors leading out into the corridor outside the main gates. He follows the crowd of people and walks through it. 

"Stan!"

He knew that voice. He scans the area until his eyes land on a familiar face that he had been longing to see for over 2 years. There was Xeno with a huge smile lighting up his features as he made his way towards him. Stan focuses on that puff of blond hair and those dark eyes as he meets Xeno halfway. 

"Xeno" Stan says when he finally reaches him and pulls him into a tight embrace. 

Xeno puts his free hand around Stan to hug him back. Stan doesn't consider himself a hopeless romantic believing in sappy shit like home is where the heart is. But the moment he saw and pulled Xeno into his arms, he feels all the stress, worries, and troubles he felt throughout the day fade away. Everything was perfectly fine. For now. 

"Hmmph"

Stan was contempt with ignoring what that noise was in order to happily continue to keep Xeno in his warm embrace, but then the source of the noise started to push on his torso.

"Ah Gen I'm sorry!" Stan heard Xeno say before he started to back away from the hug. 

That's when Stan realized they had squished the toddler in between them during their reunion hug. He scoots back the rest of the way to give the kid air to breathe. 

When Stan had pictured the young boy, he had expected light blond hair just as similar in color to Xeno's and his sisters. He wasn't expecting to see that the baby had a full head of jet black hair instead. He guesses the kid must have got that from his absent father or at least he hoped. Xeno's sister had rarely mentioned who Gen's father was before she passed. Upon further inspection he notices that Xeno and his nephew both have the same dark grey eyes. Well at least the eyes helped clear his mind about the hospital giving the siblings the wrong baby when they left it.

"Stan this is Gen!" Xeno says, repositioning the toddler in his arms so he was looking at him. 

"Hey kid."

Stan had to admit the baby had the same intense stare that Xeno did. Those big dark eyes looked him up and down and he couldn't believe a 2 year old was making him feel on edge. 

"Say hello to Stan, Gen" Xeno tells his nephew. 

Instead of saying hello, the toddler had turned around to put his tiny arms as far around Xeno as he could and hid his face in the crook of his neck. 

"I'm sorry Stan! He's usually not shy at all. I don't know why he's acting like this now," Xeno tells him, trying to get Gen to turn back around to face him, but the kid wasn't budging. 

"It's fine Xeno."

Stan wasn't expecting a timid toddler from the way his friend explained his nephew's behavior and personality. But he figured it was better than being greeted to a crying or screaming baby. 

Xeno looks up at him sheepishly and that's when Stan notices the huge dark bruise on his chin. 

"Where did you get that from?" He asks his friend, tapping on his own chin to indicate the wound there. 

"Ah it's nothing. Just a little mishap happened yesterday. It'll fade away in no time."

Stan wasn't having that answer. That bruise was large, there was no way it was a little accident. He wonders if maybe it had something to do with Xeno yelling out his nephew's name before hanging up on him abruptly earlier in the day. 

"We should go get your luggage from the pick-up area."

Xeno turns around to start leading the way to baggage claim. Seems like his friend wanted to ignore the topic of how he had gained that nasty injury on his face. Stan would make sure to get it out of him later and question the whole shouting the baby's name situation too. 

As Stan follows behind him he notices Gen pick up his head, stick his thumb in his mouth, and continue to curiously stare at him. Stan doesn't know why, but an apprehensive feeling stirs in him as the toddler continues to gaze at him. The kid has an air of mischief around him and he can't help but feel he's planning something. 

The young boy catches Stan meeting his gaze and staring back just as intensely at him. Stan watches as Gen drops his thumb out of his mouth, wraps his little arms around Xeno's neck tight, and snuggles closer to his childhood friend as he continues to keep his dark grey eyes on him. 

Stan can't help but wonder how the rest of the day will play out as he breaks his gaze away from the staring contest he was having with the kid and catches up to Xeno to walk by his side instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to go with pining Stan and oblivious Xeno because I thought it would be fun to write! Will Stan have to put in the extra effort to make Xeno see his true feelings for him? or will Xeno finally open his eyes and realize he might see Stan as more then a friend? Tune into future chapters to find out!
> 
> Also any scientific things I mention in this fic please take it with a grain of salt. I'm not a scientist and just use google scholar and random articles to try to understand the information to a point were I can piece it together to make sense. I'm not saying it's right, but I try!


	5. Powar Bear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! This one is long too and from Stan's POV again.
> 
> This chapter is mostly Stan and Xeno bantering and Gen being a terrible toddler. Hope you all enjoy it!

"How was the plane ride?" Xeno asks him, trying to get his nephew to loosen the tight hold he had around his neck.

"Long, Boring, and Tiring."

They were currently following the large crowd that had boarded off the plane with him to baggage claim, so he could pick up his duffle bag. 

"What did you do to pass the time?"

Stan didn't want to tell Xeno that he had spent a large portion of the trip reading over a huge stack of the letters he had sent him over the years, while thinking solely of him. He felt that was a conspicuous answer to say to someone who was only supposed to be your friend and would make him out to seem like some weird lovesick fool. 

"Did the whole life flashing before your eyes ordeal from beginning to end without the astral projecting, seeing dead loved ones, and gaining my wings at the end of it."

It wasn't a lie. He did daydream in the beginning of the plane ride about some of his past memories. Even if most of them were about Xeno. 

"Did you really?" Xeno asks, giving up trying to pry the toddler off and instead readjust his hold on him. 

"Yep. Everything. From the time my mom forgot me at the store and I had to walk home in the rain, to the time when I got caught sneaking into an R-rated movie and had to run through the theater out the door before the employees could apprehend me, and even that one time when you blew up the school in middle school."

There it was. As soon as the middle school part left his mouth, Xeno had frantically turned his head to look at him with wide eyes. He had mentioned it mostly because years later he still thought it was funny and liked to see Xeno's reaction to his little mishap that caused that big incident to happen years ago.

"Stan! You shouldn't say that out loud we're in an airport!" 

Stan chuckles. That little occurrence had happened during their 7th grade year around lunch time. Stan had been trapped in detention because of his mom for dropping him off late to school multiple times making him rack up numerous tardy slips. Because of that he hadn't been able to eat lunch with Xeno for almost 2 weeks. He remembers he had been eating his gross soggy turkey sandwich that the detention kids were given for lunch as some kind of punishment he guesses, when all of sudden there was a loud boom heard throughout the school. Everyone had just looked around wondering what that noise was when a minute later the fire alarm had gone off. 

All the kids had run out of the school screaming thinking there was an attack due to the loud noise. Stan recalls going outside and looking around everywhere for Xeno. He had been searching for a few minutes before he had felt a tug on his long sleeve shirt and turned around to see a disheveled panic-stricken Xeno. The other boy had tugged him along by his sleeve to a secluded area that was away from prying eyes and ears.

"Don't freak out, but I'm the reason behind that loud boom" Xeno had whispered to him before feverishly looking around to make sure no one had heard his secret. 

Stan couldn't blame Xeno for being nervous as hell. There were kids yelling that it could have been a bomb and teachers trying to calm down a crowd of children by saying they would find out what happened and who did it. Stan had dragged Xeno by the hand and snuck them away from the teachers and other students to head over to a nearby playground away from the chaos.

Once they had climbed the playground to sit on the top, Stan had told Xeno to spill everything that had happened. His friend had told him that he had been skipping lunch to sneak into the science labs to perform experiments. He said that the area around the labs was deserted, easy for him to quietly open one of the lab doors, slip in unnoticed, and have the whole space to himself to mess around in till the lunch bell rang. The other boy had told him he had been doing this for days and hadn't been caught. That day was no different. Xeno had snuck in and was messing with chemicals that were in the lab and some he brought with him. 

He claimed it was an accident. That he believes he might have mixed hydrogen peroxide and acetone to make triacetone triperoxide. So, in other words he had accidently made a high explosive bomb. Stan recalls asking Xeno if he had disposed of the evidence. The other boy had told him he tried to and had pulled the fire alarm to buy himself some time. He said that it was a very small amount, so the reaction wasn't big, it just made a loud noise.

Stan could see Xeno was really shaken up about it and thought he was going to get into major trouble if anyone found out. He had reassured his friend that it was an accident, no one was going to find out, and if things went bad they could run away together. That had calmed the blond boy down tremendously. After that they had started coming up with an escape plan just in case things went weary and they had to flee the country to live life somewhere else together. 

Thankfully they didn't have to resort to their grand escape plan and live life on the run. The school never found out what caused that loud boom and it became sort of a school legend. Some kids would say it was aliens and others ghosts, but the only two people who knew what had occurred that day had made a pinky swear on that playground, promising to never spill the truth. 

Stan was planning to take that secret to his grave. He just thought it was fun to bring it up every once in a while, to see Xeno's reaction. From the way he reacted, Stan still thinks that the blond believes that the school will find some evidence years later and he would get in trouble with the law for accidental attempted terrorism from when he was 12.

"It's fine Xeno. We still have that escape plan from years ago if we have to flee the country. I remember the plan being we take a train to the gulf coast, find a boat to hop on, and then sail as stowaways to Europe."

On that playground years ago, they had decided that they had wanted to flee to Europe together. As kids the idea of visiting somewhere overseas was exciting even if it wasn't the best course of action to get out of the country fast. Stan had wanted them to reside in Spain or Italy because of the great food and beautiful beaches. While Xeno had desired to live near Poland just because some astronomer named Nicolaus Copernicus had lived there and he wanted to see the Marie Curie museum.

Stan remembers telling Xeno that was a boring and cold place to live which had led to them arguing about it. Until they came to the conclusion that they would start in Iceland or Norway to see the northern lights and then do a travel tour around Europe. So they could visit all the different tourist places they wanted to see and then decide together which country they liked the most to call that place their home. 

Stan still often thinks about their plan to tour Europe all those years go and hopes one day to save enough to take Xeno overseas to see all those places he had mentioned he wanted to visit on that day. He knew it would be expensive, but he was determined to surprise his friend with something lavish like that in the future. 

"It was an accident! But you know now that you mention it, maybe we should consider changing the plan to drive up to Canada or down to Mexico to escape if we need to. Those two places would be more reasonable and not require a strenuous journey to get to because of Gen."

Stan admits it would take some getting used to remembering that he had to include the toddler in any of his future plans he planned for Xeno to be in. It was still strange to think that his friend was responsible for a kid, the baby was now a part of his everyday life, and he had to revolve any distant responsibilities, relationships, and goals around his nephew now.

"Well Mexico is probably too dangerous to raise a kid and Canada can get cold as hell. So maybe we can get away with retreating to Hawaii. I don't think they would think to look for us there." 

"Hawaii does sound nice. I've always wanted to see all the volcanos on the islands and visit the pearl harbor museum."

"Yep. You can even put Gen in Hula classes and maybe he'll become friends with some blue alien dog."

"Does that make me Nani and you David?" Xeno laughs. 

He really dug himself deep into a hole with that one. He guesses in a way he is David in that scenario, but that character ends up getting the girl in the end. Maybe he should look into fire breathing and take up surfing lessons. That seemed to work for David.

"Nah you seem more like Jumba. He's a scientist and I bet you would end up making Gen that blue alien dog. Me probably Gunta, but hate to inform you Xeno it would only take me one try to capture any little aliens you make."

They spend the rest of the walk to baggage claim discussing Hawaii and what they would want to see and do if they had to run away there. When they approach, all the luggage is starting to already make the rounds around the conveyor belt. They make their way closer into the crowd, so Stan can look for his duffle bag. Xeno had asked him what his bag had looked like and he was explaining the details of it, when Gen had finally let go of his guardians neck to turn himself around in his arms to see why they had stopped walking. 

"I ride?" Gen asks, pointing to the conveyor belt as he watches the luggage ride along it. 

"No Gen it's not a ride. We are looking for Stan's bag so we can grab it and then leave the airport," Xeno corrects the toddler, while looking out for Stan's dark green duffle bag.

Stan chuckles. It was probably morbid to think, but he can't help but imagine the toddler trying to ride the belt and disappearing behind the little curtain flap. The kid was funny at least, that made him laugh. 

"There it is. I believe?" Xeno questions, pointing to an army green bag that was making its way toward their direction.

"Yeah that's it."

Stan walks over to grab the bag before it makes another round around the belt. Once he grabs it he follows Xeno so they can head back towards the parking garage to leave the airport. 

"Are you hungry?" Xeno asks, trying to pull out his phone to check the time.

"If you are, then sure I can eat."

"It's almost 10:30, so once we get to a restaurant it'll be around lunch time. I thought we could grab lunch before heading back to my apartment." Xeno tells him, looking down at his phone to confirm the time. 

"Yeah cool. I'm fine with whatever you want to do Xeno." 

"Hmm what do you want to eat then? You probably have something you've been craving overseas. Your pick!"

You. That was the first thought that came to him for that question. Stan mentally tells his brain to shut up before he says something stupid that he will regret. That's the last thing he wants to say to Xeno. He hopes that asking his friend to stay with him at his place isn't a mistake and leads to him accidently letting the other man know his true feelings for him. He rather live on the streets under a bridge before he lets that happen.

"I really don't care, Xeno. Anything is fine with me." 

"Come on Stan there has to be something you want. Tell m-" Xeno starts but is interrupted by his nephew who looks up at him when he hears them talking about food. 

"Powar Bear?" Gen asks, looking up at Xeno with big puppy dog eyes. 

"No Gen. Stan is picking the place today."

"What's the polar bear?"

"Ah it's this diner whose mascot is a polar bear. They serve typical diner foods, but Gen only wants to go there because they have an ice cream machine where you can get free ice cream after your meal." Xeno explains, giving the toddler a scolding look for interrupting him.

"Let's go there."

"Are you sure? We can go anywhere you want. You're coming back home from deployment, so I wanted you to pick a place."

"Nah it's fine. I had this fancy burger that wasn't a real burger on the plane. I rather have an unhealthy good ole greasy American burger from a small-town diner. Plus, I haven't had ice cream in years. Sounds good."

Stan thought it was sweet that Xeno was letting him choose the restaurant. But he honestly had no preference for what they ate. Anything was better than what he had eaten the past 4 years he had been overseas. 

"Okay if that's what you want."

Stan watches Gen smirk triumphantly up at his guardian causing Xeno to shake his head frowning. Maybe he should have just picked a random place. He doesn't want to seem like he's giving into the toddlers wishes and creating future problems for his friend. 

"Why a polar bear in Texas? Seems like a weird mascot to have when this is the last place one would live. That bear would die from heat stroke out here. They should have gone with an armadillo. " Stan asks, as they approach and enter the elevator that would take them down into the garage. 

"I believe it was the owner’s daughter's favorite animal and something tragic happened to her. So, they use it as their mascot as a remembrance in her memory." Xeno tells him, pushing the 5th floor button. 

"Oh well shit that's sad."

"Stan!" Xeno shouts, giving him a disapproving stare.

Ah dang he forgot about the kid. That was also going to take some time getting used to. He was used to being around his military comrades and dropping curse words freely. Great. Just another thing for Xeno to nag at him about besides the smoking. 

"Yeah my bad. But I don't think he was paying attention" He says, pointing towards the toddler. 

He watches Xeno turn his head to see that Gen was trying to press all the buttons on the elevator.

"Gen! No! We don't do that! " Xeno exclaims, grabbing the toddler’s hands so he couldn't press anymore. 

Unfortunately, the baby had managed to press quite a lot of buttons in a short amount of time. They were doomed to go down each floor and wait for the door to open before Xeno quickly pressed the closed-door button. Stan could see that the other man was upset from the way he was glaring at his nephew who was smiling innocently at him. So, he tried not to laugh even though he thought the situation was kinda funny. 

They finally make it to the 5th floor of the garage. Xeno guides him in between the cars until they stop in front of a black vehicle. Stan was hoping by some miracle that Xeno had traded in his hideous small old black Suzuki, but he knew that was not likely. 

"See you still got this beater car."

"Do not make fun of my vehicle! It has provided me comfort and allowed me to reach my destination with no issues. I don't care what you say I will continue to use it for the next 10 years if I can." 

Stan knew there was no changing Xeno's mind about trading it in for something not embarrassing to drive in. As kids they had hitched a ride in Xeno's sisters car or walked around town if they needed to go somewhere. He had never owned a car and until recently neither had his friend. It wasn't until he came back that April, 2 years ago that he was introduced to Xeno's "new" used ugly vehicle. The other man had picked him up at the airport at that time in the car. He had excitedly told him how he had been saving up the money he made through tutoring and teaching assistant jobs to buy his first car. 

Stan was proud that Xeno had saved up to purchase something by himself without help, but that still didn't mean the vehicle wasn't unappealing and immune to him poking fun at it. He remembers telling Xeno that the logo in the front of the car looked like that superman S everyone drew in middle school and his friend getting mad at him for making fun of his vehicle.

"You know we can still drive over to a used car lot and trade it in. I can help you pick out a better car that isn't lame and an eyesore." Stan teases, going over to the passenger side to open the door and slide in. 

"Nope! It has proven to be useful and has got me from point a to b. That's all that matters. I don't care what it looks like. It could be orange for all I care." Xeno tells him, buckling in Gen to his car seat and walking over to get into the driving seat. 

"Well the offer is always on the table if you change your mind."

Stan knows Xeno is telling the truth. If a neon green or yellow car had been available and at a decent price, they could have been driving in an even bigger mess than the vehicle they were in right now. Guess he should be glad this black one was on the market at the time. 

"Ipad?"

"Yes, let me get it for you." Xeno says, reaching over into the back seat to pull it out for Gen.

"You got him an Ipad?"

"No, it's not. It's one of those children learning tablets. It's so he won't distract me while I'm driving."

That made sense. He knew Xeno was a bit nervous when it came to driving. He recalls back to when they were teenagers and Xeno's sister had offered to teach them how to drive so they could get their driver's license. Stan had already known how to drive since he was young. As a kid his mom would sometimes throw the keys to her car at him and tell him to go get her something or drive her somewhere. He had told the siblings this which had made them alarmingly question him about it, tell him that was illegal, and ask what he would do if he ever got caught. Stan had told them his mom said if he got caught while he was out by himself then he was on his own, but if she was with him to tell the cops he was driving her to the hospital. That had gotten him two bewildered stares and he shrugged it off because he had never been caught before, so it didn't matter. 

He had ended up in the back seat of Xeno's sister's car while the older sibling taught her brother how to drive instead. Stan admits it was quite a disaster. Xeno kept breaking the car hard and stopped randomly at times. Which had caused the other blond sibling to question him on what he was doing and his friend replying that he was calculating the best braking time. Stan had watched her scold her younger brother and tell him he couldn't scientifically drive a car which ended up with them arguing about it.

He's just glad that Xeno finally managed to learn how to drive eventually even if he was still a bit nervous about it. 

"Can you hand me the parking ticket out of the glove compartment?" 

"Sure." Stan answers, opening it up and searching for it before handing it to Xeno. 

While he had been searching for the ticket a book had fallen out of the compartment. He reaches down to pick it up and notices that it was about natural disasters specifically tsunamis. He knew that Xeno enjoyed learning about different topics, but this was not usually what he was into and he wondered why he was reading it. 

"Why tsunamis? Thought your degree was for astronomy?" 

Xeno had driven up to the ticket machine and was trying to push it into the slot for the machine to take. Once he was done, he had turned to address Stan's question with an enthusiastic smile. Stan knew from that grin he was in for a long explanation that hopefully would not turn overly complicated quickly. 

"It's for my physics of the earth and planetary interiors class! It's for one of our essay assignments. We have to imagine that an enormous earth-shattering asteroid hit the planet in today's times and scientifically write about a natural disaster that would occur after. The research paper has to mention all the catastrophe this natural disaster would create in its path that would result in the annihilation of humanity!"

"So, like what happened to the dinosaurs?"

"Exactly! Actually, the asteroid that led to the mass extinction of dinosaurs was called the Chicxulub. It triggered a mile-high global tsunami to rise that resulted in the end of the Cretaceous period. 

"Guessing no way to ride or outrun waves that big huh."

"Nope! The tsunami moved throughout the entire world's ocean and into every water basin on the surface of the earth. The water from the waves moved as fast as 90 mph. The initial wave that formed first was about 1.5 kilometers, but soon after the momentum from the impact of the asteroid caused other monstrous waves to form and some of those were as high as 100 meters. Those are world record tides. Truly elegant!"

Stan's math skills were a little rusty and he couldn't quite compute those measurements to feet in his head, but from the way Xeno was describing them and his knowledge from how destructive that asteroid crash was to result in a mass extinction, he knew it was colossal waves. Elegant was the last word he would use to describe what Xeno just told him, more like terrifying. 

"Well with how technologically advanced we are now, wouldn't there be a way to stop it if it happened again? Maybe we can build walls that are 2 kilometers high just in case the ocean decides it wants to beat it's last world record and aim higher."

"An asteroid's collision course can change paths at any moment. There could be one predicted to hit earth years from now, but calculations can be tricky and off for objects in space that are countless miles away. Astronomers can track it, measure its orbit, and warn higher ups so they can come up with ways to deflect it, but there's always the possibility that it could still hit earth. But don't worry. If there's ever a kilometer-wide destructive asteroid coming near earth, I'll tell you!" Xeno reassures him, giving him a cute smile.

That did not reassure Stan. There's no way the most powerful people in the world could come together and agree with a plan to stop an earth-shattering asteroid like that. They couldn't end world hunger, wars, solve climate change, and other world problems right now. Did Xeno really think all the nations could get along long enough to discuss plans to save the planet? He doubts it. Guess it's each their own if it came down to it. 

"Guess we better put you into swimming lessons then, so you don't almost drown again and maybe invest into a canoe. You never know, maybe we'll get lucky and the waves will part or miss us. I'm sure one or two dinosaurs somehow got lucky and made it out alive during that asteroid hit. 

"I can swim."

"Don't lie Xeno. I had to save you that one time from almost drowning when you were bobbing for oranges at the pool. I doubt you've magically learned how to swim since then."

"I was not bobbing for oranges! I was using them to test for changes in density to see if the buoyancy in the pool would affect the homemade submarines I was making. They were the only tools I had on hand at that time to experiment with to try to achieve neutral buoyancy."

Xeno could say all he wanted, but that still didn't stop Stan from catching him throwing peeled and unpeeled oranges into a pool all those years ago when they were kids. Stan had walked to Xeno's apartment that day to hang out with the other boy. The older sibling had answered the door and told him his friend was at the pool for their apartment complex. He had made his way there just to see Xeno tossing numerous oranges into the pool, before getting down on his knees and reaching out far with his hands over the edge to try to retrieve one of the oranges he tossed. Stan didn't realize it till after the fact that, sneaking up on his friend and asking him what he was doing was a mistake. He had startled Xeno and caused him to tip over and fall into the water. He watched the other boy panic, start splashing wildly, and then his head start to go below the surface. He had to dive in quickly after that to save Xeno from drowning. 

Stan remembers they had been shivering in towels on the lounge chairs until Xeno's sister had come along to check up on them. She had seen all the oranges her brother threw into the pool and had scolded him for it before taking away his science privileges for a week. Stan still finds it funny that anytime Xeno got in trouble his punishment was getting his science rights revoked. Other kids would get their phones or video games taken away, but Xeno got banned from researching or performing science experiments for days or weeks.

"Yeah all I remember was you almost drowning, getting your science privileges taken away for a week, and then your sister making you grab the pool net, so you could fish up all those oranges out of the water."

"I almost drowned because of you! I would have been fine if you had not snuck up on me like that," Xeno tells him, giving him a quick glare before turning his eyes back onto the road. 

"But I saved you from drowning, so it balances it out in a way. Your welcome by the way. You never did thank me for saving your life back then."

"It does not work that way and why would I thank you for something you caused. You should be apologizing to me!"

"Yeah well next time you're drowning don't expect me to jump in to save you again," Stan lies, knowing fully well he would save Xeno numerous times over if he had to. 

"Hmm well I'll just build a submarine from that knowledge I gained bobbing for oranges, for when the next catastrophic asteroid strikes again. So that way when you're paddling away in your canoe from the tsunami, maybe you'll think back to this time when you didn't apologize to me and told me you would let me drown next time." 

"Wow that's low Xeno. You would really let your dear old best friend go down like that when you had a perfectly big enough submarine for him to ride in with you?" 

"Yes, I would" Xeno playfully grins, his eyes still on the road.

Stan knew he was joking, and it was just friendly banter, but it still didn't mean he didn't want him to take back his words. Normally he would tickle, lay on top of him, or pester the blond until he dropped that adorable smirk off his face and took back his words, but Xeno was driving. He didn't want them to crash, so he would let his friend win this round. 

"How would you even go about building a submarine?" 

He knew by asking Xeno this question he was in for another long conversation, that would more than likely venture into territory he didn't understand. But he was fine with that, he honestly just wanted to hear the other man talk about anything. He missed being able to see the way his eyes lit up when he talked about something that interested him and hear the way his voice changed in pitch in person from how excited he got about sharing this information with Stan. 

"Well the first step would be to come with a structural design for a submarine with depth being the main aspect to focus on. The pressure hull is the important primary structural element of the submarine and must be able to withstand external hydrostatic pressure. In order to accomplish this the submarine must be designed to handle collapse depth." Xeno starts, before continuing explaining how to calculate collapse depth. 

There he goes. It only took a minute for Xeno to lose him and start overly making his explanation complex. Stan doesn't mind. Instead he spends the rest of the ride to the restaurant listening to Xeno go on and every once in a while, dropping questions for his friend to answer. He really missed how easy and relaxed he felt being around the most important person in his life.

* * *

"Right this way sirs." the hostesses tells them, guiding them to their table. 

She sits them at a booth, hands them their menus, and then walks over to grab a highchair for Gen. Once she places it in front of the booth, Xeno puts the toddler into it and places the children's menu with some crayons in front of him to keep the baby busy. 

"Joker need chair." Gen tells Xeno, holding out his plush to show his guardian. 

"Joker can sit right next to me." Xeno tells him, scooting over a bit to make some space for the rabbit to sit. 

"No chair." 

"Gen the highchairs are for children like you. Joker isn't a child so he can either sit next to me or we can put him in your backpack for now and you can get him out after we leave."

"No."

"You can only choose between those two options. Which will it be?"

Stan watches as the two of them give each other intense stares. Neither of them wanting to give in to the other. He felt out of place and awkwardly had no idea if he should intervene or stay quiet. He wasn't quite sure if it was his place to speak up and he also had no idea what to even suggest to solve the situation. So, he opted for just watching silently to see what would happen. Thankfully he didn't have to step in because the waitress had come over to take their orders. He watches as Gen turns his glare away from Xeno to look up innocently at the waitress instead.

"Chair?" Gen asks her, deciding to change his strategy up.

"What was that darling?" the older waitress asks, looking down to give Gen a friendly smile.

"Chair for rabbit?" He asks, holding out his stuffed animal to show her.

"I'm sorry ma'am! He's just being persistent on his toy sitting in the same chair as him," Xeno apologizes. 

"Oh that's fine dear. Here." the waitress says, going over to grab another highchair and sliding it over to put it next to Gen. 

"There we go sweetie. My daughter used to have a toy she would take everywhere with her too."

"Ah yes. What do we say Gen?" Xeno says, looking over at his nephew who was happily putting his rabbit into the chair beside him.

"Thanchu." Gen tells her, before picking up the blue crayon to start coloring all the arctic animals on the children's menu. 

"Your welcome sweetheart! Now what can I get you boys?" the waitress asks, pulling out her notebook to write down their orders.

"What do you recommend?" Stan asks her, not even bothering to open his menu.

"We have a bacon cheeseburger deluxe with onion rings that's popular with the regulars and a pulled pork sandwich that's also delicious."

"I'll take the burger," Stan tells her, before handing her the menu. 

"One bacon cheeseburger deluxe gotcha. What about you sweetie?"

Stan looks over to see Xeno looking down at his menu probably stuck on two options. If there was one thing, he wished his friend would not be it's picky. Xeno growing up had always been finicky about what he ate, and he took that habit into his adult years too. He had a list of things he didn't like and if any of his food contained that he refused to eat it. As kids Stan remembers trying to get his friend to try a bunch of different things, but if it looked weird and smelt funny then Xeno wouldn't budge on trying it.

If he had to guess he figured that the other man was choosing between getting a B.L.T with no tomato or a chicken sandwich. Every time they went to the diner that Xeno's sister worked at as waitress when they were kids, those were always the two options he went for unless he was feeling daring and went for fish n chips instead. 

"I'll take the B.L.T with fries, but no tomato please."

Seems like he wasn't feeling adventurous today and went with the usual. Stan decided that if he was going to be living with Xeno, he was going to make his friend try a variety of different things. He wanted them to eat other things besides chicken and turkey every day.

"B.L.T with no tomato got it. What about the little one?"

"What do you want Gen?" Xeno asks, reaching over to pull open the kids menu to the page where pictures of food were shown for the toddler to see.

"Powar bear chicken nuggets," Gen says, pointing to a picture of a polar bear on the bottom of the page that was next to the picture of a plate of chicken nuggets.

"He'll take the chicken nuggets with mac n cheese." Xeno tells her, before handing her his menu too.

"A plate of chicken nuggets for this lil cutie got it. What do you boys want for drinks?"

"You got milkshakes?" Stan asks.

"Yep we got all three classic flavors and some special flavors too."

"I'll take a strawberry milkshake and he'll take chocolate." 

"Ah wait Stan."

"Come on Xeno we can't go to a diner and not get milkshakes. It'll be like old times."

"Okay fine."

"Chocolate me?" Gen asks, glancing up from where he was coloring a penguin green at the mention of chocolate.

"He'll take a chocolate milk." Xeno tells the waitress, before she jots it down and tells them she will be back with their orders once there ready. 

"You know it's called B.L.T right? You just ordered a B.L." 

"I can order it however I please! Besides tomatoes are gross."

"You like spaghetti sauce and ketchup. That's pretty much the same thing just in paste form."

"No, it is not. They taste exceptionally different!"

Stan smirks about to mess with Xeno some more about his choice in lunch, when suddenly they hear something fall on the ground. Both men turn towards Gen to see the toddler looking down onto the ground where he had dropped his red crayon. 

"Oops. Pick up?" Gen asks, trying to reach down for the crayon and then look up with those puppy dog eyes again at his guardian. 

Stan observes Xeno give the toddler a long stare before reaching down to pick up the crayon for him. He holds it out for the toddler who takes it from him and returns to starting to color the menu page red. Things get awfully quiet as he watches his friend give his nephew side-eye. He admits it seems like Xeno can never catch a break with the kid. He wonders if it's always like this with them. This reminds him about the other man hanging up abruptly on him earlier in the day and the dark bruise he's still sporting on his face. He figures now would be a great time to question him more about it.

"So wanna tell me why you hung up with me like that earlier today?"

"Hmm oh that. I just had to deal with something that Gen did. Nothing to worry about, but sorry for ending the call that way." Xeno tells him, while avoiding making eye contact with him. 

Stan was not satisfied with that answer. Seems like Xeno wanted to be difficult and make him hound him for the truth. He didn't feel like playing a charades game with the other man. He was just really concerned about Xeno's wellbeing and wanted to know what happened.

"Alright. How did you get the bruise then? You sure it didn't happen after you ended the call with me?"

"... I ran into a door at work."

"How do you get a bruise on your chin by running into a door at work?"

"And then I backed up into one of my coworkers… and they got furious and threw a stapler at me?"

Xeno was such a horrible liar. He sounded unsure of his answer, was not making direct eye contact with him, and his story was too unbelievable to be true. 

"Come on Xeno. I'm not stupid. I can put two and two together. Stop lying to me and just tell me what really went down. We're best friends, right? I promise not to judge you no matter what happened." 

He watches Xeno shift in his seat before finally making eye contact with him. He looks excessively anxious and Stan can't understand why. Could it really be that bad? They were both still alive and breathing. What could have happened to make him act this way.

"I just don't want to seem like a horrible parent." Xeno whispers to him, looking around to make sure no one could hear them. 

"I won't think you're a bad parent no matter what you tell me." Stan reassures him.

He means it. He grew up with a mom who had been an awful parent to him his whole life. He had firsthand experience with that. He seriously doubts whatever Xeno did would ever top anything that his mom did to him growing up.

"Okay fine." Xeno tells him, before leaning in closer to quietly tell Stan the whole story.

Stan listens as Xeno starts telling him what occurred after he hung up on him. He tells him how he had made the mistake of leaving Gen in the tub by himself to answer his call, then how he panicked when he didn't hear the toddler anymore, continues on about the huge fall he took to the floor resulting in the dark bruise on his face, and finally ends it with how his nephew had embarrassingly tricked him. 

Once he's done Stan looks over in awe to the toddler to see the kid trying to make his toy rabbit hold a crayon and then giggle when it falls onto the highchair table. From the few hours he spent observing the kid, he knew he was a handful. He shouldn't be surprised that he was capable of doing that to his best friend. Still it was a lot. He had no idea how Xeno was able to handle him by himself these past 5 months. 

"You aren't a bad parent for leaving him in the tub by himself. You made him sing so you could hear him and rushed to his rescue when you didn't hear him anymore. You care about him, it was an accident." Stan tells the other man. 

"I just feel like other parents would know better than to do what I did."

"Trust me a lot of parents probably have no idea what the hell there doing either half the time. I'm sure you’re not the first person to leave a kid in the tub by themselves and you won't be the last. It happens. Nothing bad occurred and now you know not to do it again."

Stan watches Xeno loosen up a bit after getting that story off his shoulders. He's glad that the blond finally told him what had happened. He could tell that incident had left him feeling guilty from the way he talked about it, but it seems he felt a bit more relaxed now telling someone his worries. He hopes that Xeno will continue to lean on him in the future instead of keeping all that emotional baggage to himself. 

He's about to talk more on the subject to him, but the waitress comes over with their lunch. 

"Here you boys go," she tells them, placing their meals on the table in front of them. 

She asks them if they need anything before leaving them to eat their lunch. Stan sees Xeno hand the toddler a fork and tell him he must eat with it and not his hands. Then they start to dig into their food. He's about to take a bite out of his burger when he hears Xeno softly whisper to him from across the table.

"Thank you, Stan."

"Anytime Xeno."

They eat their meal in peace with Xeno occasionally looking at the toddler to make sure he was eating his food properly. He's about halfway done with his sandwich when he feels like he's being watched. He had felt like he was being stared at since they had sat down in the booth earlier, but he had ignored it. But now that they were eating their lunch quietly, he noticed the uncomfortable sensation more. He turns his vision to the side to see the hostesses from earlier looking his way. Once she notices that he caught her staring she quickly turns away embarrassed. 

Stan wishes he could wear a sign around him that said, "not interested". This always happened to him and he found it annoying. He wanted nothing to do with romance with anyone except from the person sitting across from him. This situation reminded him about the flight attendant on the plane.

He ponders on if he should mention it to Xeno. He had started playing a daring game with Xeno during that time he came back down in April, 2 years ago. He would casually mention when people showed interest in him to see how the other man would react. The times he had done this so far had resulted in Xeno encouraging him instead and asking if he had got their number or was interested in the person. That was not the reaction he was looking for and it always left him feeling disheartened. But a small part of him hoped that maybe one day Xeno's response would be different. He thought it wouldn't hurt to mention it to see what would happen. 

"There was this flight attendant on the plane that kept trying to flirt with me" Stan told him looking over to see his reaction. 

"Oh did you get their number?"

Seems he was still playing this game by himself because he never got the reaction from the blond that he wanted. He tried to push down the disappointment he felt rising from Xeno's answer to his statement.

"No, I wasn't interested."

That was it. They went back to eating their meals. It wasn't until he saw Xeno drinking his milkshake that he decided to bring up another topic.

"Aren't you glad I ordered us these shakes?" 

"I suppose I am. They're good, but not as delicious as the ones back at the diner in our hometown."

"Yeah your right. Makes me miss that diner. I wonder if it's still open."

"It is. I went back to it about a year ago. I don't think it's closed down since then."

"Maybe we could go back to it one of these days. I'd like to have that good ole wild west omelet again. That bad boy was the best thing on the menu, you were missing out."

"Yeah it would be nice to go back one of these days." Xeno says, looking down at his plate with a melancholy stare. 

Stan wonders if he shouldn't have brought up going back to the diner in their hometown. Xeno's sister worked at that diner as one of her many jobs for years. They would always go there as kids during her shifts and get free food and drinks. It's why they considered it their favorite spot to get milkshakes and just talk. He's starting to feel at fault for suggesting it now that he's realizing that that place must have memories of the older sibling and it might be hard for Xeno to visit it anytime soon. 

He's about to tell the other man he's sorry for bringing it up, when he sees Xeno turn his head to the right to check on his nephew. What happened next was pure chaos. The blond's eyes had widened before he scrambled frantically towards the toddler. 

"Gen no! I told you that you had to use your fork to eat!"

Stan turns his head too, to see what had happened. He saw that the kid had abandoned his utensil and had a hand full of macaroni in his tiny fist instead. Beside him the rabbit in the highchair was stained with cheese from him trying to feed it. Seems like he was about to go back to feeding the toy a second time but got caught in the act. 

"Oops" Gen says, before dropping the food in his hand causing it to land on his shirt and shorts. 

"No! Why did you do that?" Xeno questions the toddler, upset at him for what he did. 

Stan watches Xeno slide out of the booth and stand up to pick the toddler up out of the highchair. He notices as his friend hauls the baby from the seat, that the kid’s shoes are missing.

"Really Gen! How did you take off your shoes? Why are you so troublesome." Xeno tells him, putting the toddler on the booth seat to sit down. 

"You stay there and don't move while I get your shoes." Xeno warns him.

Stan then watches the other man duck down under the table to retrieve the kid's shoes. Things were moving too fast for him. He had no earthly clue on how to react to the situation. Does he offer Xeno help? Does he just make sure to keep an eye on the kid? He has no idea. He catches Gen jumping down from the booth seat onto the ground before the toddler starts to make a run for it. Apparently Xeno had also heard his nephew jump down and start to run. 

"Gen! Stop come ba-"

Stan hears a thump from under the table and then a groan from Xeno. He's guessing the blond must have hurriedly tried to come up and accidently hit his head on the underside of the table. He's about to get up and chase after the kid, but then he sees Xeno crawl out from under the booth. His friend then quickly gets up before chasing after the toddler, shouting his name.

Stan gets up anyway and is standing by the table feeling everyone's eyes in the diner staring their way. He has no idea what the fuck just happened. This was quite a lot for him to process at once. He's never been put into a situation like this and still has no idea what to do. He's about to start walking towards the direction the blond went, but then he sees Xeno making his way back to their table, with the runaway toddler in his arms. 

"I'm sorry Stan."

If Xeno looked sad before he now looks down-right miserable. Stan can see how embarrassed he is and he almost looks like he's about to start crying. 

"It's okay Xeno. Everything is fine now."

He watches Xeno reach over to grab Gen's backpack and the shoes he put onto the booth seat before taking off to catch the toddler. 

"I'm going to go change his clothes." Xeno tells him, before taking off towards the bathrooms to clean up the toddler. 

Stan continues to keep his eye on the pair until they disappear behind the bathroom door. He then turns his attention to look down at the mess the toddler had created in a short amount of time. 

Well shit. This was a disaster. He wonders how often this type of fiasco occurs with the toddler. He felt overwhelmed and he was just a witness. He can't imagine how Xeno must be feeling right now. 

He takes one more look over at the mess before walking off to find the waitress. He finds her near the register punching in information for tickets.

"Hello hun. Did you need something?"

"We had a little accident at our table. But before that can I pay for our meal now?"

His original plan was to convince Xeno to let him pay for their meal. He already knew that the other man would fight him on it and insist he didn't have to. So, he saw this as a perfect opportunity to pay for the tab before the blond returned back from the bathroom. 

"Sure! I have your ticket right here already printed out," she tells him, punching in the numbers into the cash register. 

She tells him the amount for their meal, and he hands her his credit card telling her to include a tip for herself. He had been saving his base pay money all these years for this exact moment. Well not to pay for their lunch at this restaurant specifically, more so the reassurance that he had enough money to allow him to stand on his own two feet and help Xeno out. He was planning to pay for everything his friend needed no matter how hard he fought him on it. It was the least he could do since the blond was letting him stay at his home until he could find a place for his own. 

"There you go you're all set. Thank you for your service by the way!" she tells him, handing him back his card and receipt. 

That was going to take some time getting used to. He wasn't used to getting thanked for something he saw as a last resort choice to prevent him from living on the streets. He looks down at the ticket to see she had given him a military discount. Guess that was a somewhat benefit for spending 6 long hellish years in the service. 

"I'll be over to clean the mess once I drop off these tickets at other tables." she tells him before picking up all the tickets she punched out and disappearing to drop them off at tables. 

Stan looks over at their table to see that Xeno wasn't back yet. He wonders what he should do. Well he knew exactly what he wanted to do. It was in his pocket and had been taunting him for numerous hours. He figures it wouldn't hurt to go outside and smoke a cigarette, while he waited for the other man and his nephew. 

He makes his way to the front door, exits it to outside, pulls out a smoke and his lighter, and lights it up before bringing it to his lips. What a long day. He looks up at the bright blue sky and thinks back to everything that had happened so far in the day. It hadn't been more than 2 hours since he met the toddler and already, he had witnessed in a short time how troublesome he was. It wasn't even 1pm yet and he wonders if the day could get anymore hectic then it already was. 

His thoughts drift from the toddler back to Xeno. It was interesting seeing how different he acted when interacting with his nephew. He had never seen his friend take on a caretaker role before. It was always the other way around since Xeno's sister had taken care of the blond man his whole life. It was different. So many changes had happened in the 2 years he had been overseas. He hopes there's no other surprises awaiting him. 

He puts out his cigarette, deciding that enough time had passed and Xeno was probably back from cleaning up the toddler. Stan makes his way back inside to their table. Upon approaching the booth, he sees Xeno trying to clean up the mess the baby had made. Gen was currently standing on the booth seat holding his stuffed animal, that seemed like Xeno had tried to wipe down the best he could, watching his guardian clean up the mess. 

"Look at this huge mess you made Gen. This was a bad thing, remember we don't eat with our hands or things like this happen again." he hears Xeno say as he walks closer to stand next to him. 

"Oh Stan! I'm sorry we took so long in the bathroom," Xeno apologizes before standing straight up.

"It's fine Xeno. You don't have to apologize, I get it."

Xeno gives him a sheepish look before continuing to try to clean up the spilled food. Stan's about to tell him that he told the waitress about the mess, but then the older woman is there in front of them.

"Don't worry about it darling! I got it. You just continue on with your day with your family." she tells Xeno, trying to get him to stop wiping down the highchair.

"Are you sure?" Xeno asks her, still feeling obligated to clean up the toddler's mess.

"Yep I'm 100% sure!" 

"Ah okay. Do we just go up to the front to pay?" Xeno asks backing off when he realizes she's not going to let him finish wiping down the chair. 

"It was paid for already by your partner here!" she informs Xeno, motioning over to Stan.

"Oh was it?" Xeno says, giving Stan a disapproving look. 

"Yep. Y'all have a good day!"

Stan tries not to feel giddy about being referred to as Xeno's partner. He wasn't a lovesick schoolgirl with a crush. He had to push this stupid infatuation back deep down again if he wanted to survive living with Xeno without saying or doing something stupid. Besides, now was not the time to be feeling happy over a small mistake from the waitress, when Xeno still looked miserable. 

Xeno thanks her one last time, then picks up Gen and his backpack before they make their way to the front of the restaurant. There about to exit until Gen remembers why he wanted to come here in the first place.

"Ice cream!" the toddler shouts, squirming in Xeno's arms to try to make them not leave without getting some.

If you asked Stan, the toddler didn't deserve the ice cream due to all the troubles he put his guardian through so far in the day. But he also had no idea how he would react to hearing no he couldn't have it. It seems like Xeno realized this too and signs before turning around to walk over to the ice cream machine. Once they reach it, the other man grabs a cup and uses the handle to pour chocolate ice cream into it. He grabs the cup and holds it out at arm's length away from the toddler who was reaching out trying to take it from his hands.

"No, you don't get to eat it until we are home. You also have to be good the whole car trip back too." Xeno tells him. 

Gen pouts, not happy about that. He doesn't seem to protest and instead turns to snuggle up into Xeno's neck. Stan grabs himself a vanilla cone, asking Xeno if he wants one. The other man tells him no and then they leave the restaurant. 

Stan watches Xeno put the ice cream in the front seat console before going over to the back seat to buckle Gen up in his car seat. He licks his ice cream before it starts melting wondering how the rest of the day will go now that he's finally going to Xeno's apartment and being confined into a small space where he has no choice, but to interact with the toddler himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter might take a little while longer to be posted. I have a one-shot I want to work on and a few events are coming up that I'm debating on joining. Hopefully it won't be to long!
> 
> Not to sure if the middle school S thing is an american only thing or not. But I made an example to show what I'm talking about [here.](https://imgur.com/e21sAqs) Every time I see this car it reminds me of that haha.


	6. Unicorn Stickers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi sorry this took a long time to update. I got busy with college and then I went on a one-shot frenzy. 
> 
> But here it is! Hope it being over 10k words makes up for the long wait!

Things were going terrible. Truly terrible. Xeno knew it was too good to be true that the day could by without Gen embarrassing him in some awful way. He just was hoping that today it wouldn't be as horrific and in their home behind closed doors. Not in front of numerous people and Stan in a busy restaurant by running away from him covered head to toe in mac n cheese. 

When they exit the bathroom and make their way back to the table, Xeno notices that Stan isn't there and his stomach drops hoping his friend didn't leave the restaurant due to embarrassment of what happened earlier. He looks down at the huge mess that Gen made and sighs before putting the child on the table bench to start to try to wipe the mess up. 

"Stay there and don't move this time." Xeno warns Gen.

The toddler sticks his thumb in his mouth and watches his guardian attempt to clean up the mess while Xeno scolds him. Xeno's in the middle of reminding Gen again about eating with his hands, when he suddenly sees a pair of brown boots from the corner of his eye. He glances upwards and there stood Stan staring down intensely at him. Xeno straightens himself up and apologizes to Stan for everything that occurred. 

The other man tells him it's fine, but it's definitely not fine! Gen just embarrassed both of them in front of numerous people. He could still feel wandering eyes looking their way and he knows that Stan hated unwanted attention. Xeno was about to ask Stan where he went, but now that his friend was closer to him, he could smell a strong tobacco scent coming off him. 

Oh. That's where he went. Stan's smoking habit was definitely going to be an issue for them. He didn't want his nephew and him to acquire secondhand smoking or his house smelling like cigarettes, so that was a pressing matter he would have to discuss with Stan soon.

Xeno continues to try to clean the mess until the waiter comes over and demands that she would pick it up. He backs off knowing she wasn't going to let him finish and instead asks her about the bill, which she tells him with a smile that Stan had paid for their meal already.

Xeno turns to send Stan a disapproving look. He didn't want Stan paying for their meals. He wanted to pay for Stan because this was his homecoming day. He should have known the other man was going to fight him on it and play dirty by paying while Xeno was distracted. They always did this. Last time Stan had returned home that April, 2 years ago they were constantly fighting with each other on who would pay for things when they went out. Seems Stan wanted to continue that game and Xeno wasn't going to let him win this time around. He would remember to scold him later for it. 

They make their way out of the restaurant and Xeno is anxious to get home. The faster they got home, the faster he could put Gen in front of the TV to hopefully distract him long enough so Xeno could have some alone time to talk with Stan. He was desperate to be near the other man again and just conversate together about anything. He really missed their long conversations and wanted to catch up with what happened with Stan in the past 2 years since he'd seen him. Sure, they talked on the phone and exchanged letters, but it wasn't the same as being able to face his friend in person and watch his facial expressions change upon his face as they engaged in friendly conversation.

Xeno was almost out the door, but then Gen screamed bloody murder about not getting his ice cream. He sighs before turning back around to quickly grab a cup to pour some into it. He knew Gen didn't deserve the ice cream after all he had just put the both of them through, but he also knew that the toddler would cause an even bigger scene if he told him no. He couldn't let that happen so instead he gives in and tells the baby he cannot have the ice cream until they made it home.

They finally exit the restaurant and Xeno quickly buckles Gen into his car seat. Thankfully his apartment was close by and the car ride home was only 5 minutes. The drive back was quiet because Stan was busy trying to eat his ice cream cone before it melted. Xeno didn't mind, he was quite distracted thinking about all that had happened so far in the day. It hadn't even been half a day yet and already Gen had caused so much trouble. He hoped Stan wasn't analyzing and judging his parenting skills. He knew Stan would never do this, but Xeno still felt insecure about others seeing him not fit to care for Gen. 

He parks the car in the parking lot once they arrive. Stan walks over to the trunk to grab his luggage out of it, while Xeno goes around to haul Gen out of his car seat. Xeno carries both Gen, his backpack, and the ice cream cup as they go up the stairs to reach his apartment. Once there in front of the door, Xeno looks down at his hands realizing they were full. 

"You need help?" Stan asks, looking over at him.

"Please. I put my keys in my pocket you can hold this real-" Xeno starts but stops once he feels Stan reach over to slip his hand into his pocket to grab the keys.

Xeno stiffens, feeling Stan's hot palm graze his thigh as he fishes out the keys from his pant pocket. A light warmth spreads throughout Xeno from this action, but he doesn't have time to question it because Stan walks over to unlock the door. He pushes the door open and Xeno walks past him to stroll in before turning on the lights.

"Welcome home." Xeno says, moving aside so Stan can walk in with his duffle bag. 

This wasn't the first time Stan had been to his apartment. Xeno has been living in the same place since he started college, so his friend had come over that time back in April when he was in town. Because of this Xeno didn't have to give Stan a grand tour around his home. Instead he walks over to his room with Stan trailing behind him. 

"You can place your stuff over there." Xeno says, pointing over to the empty space on the left side of his bed.

"Are you sure I can sleep here Xeno? I don't mind sleeping on the couch." Stans asks, looking intensely at his bed. 

"Yes, it's fine Stan. Gen can sleep in his crib tonight."

Or at least he hopes Gen will sleep in his crib tonight. He was desperately praying the toddler wouldn't give him any problems about not sleeping on the bed tonight. A part of him knew he more than likely would, but he tells himself not to overthink it right now. They could figure it out later. Xeno watches Stan place the duffle bag on the ground before zipping it down slightly to reach into it.

"You mind if I take a shower first so I can get out of these clothes?" Stan asks, pulling out a white shirt from the bag.

"Sure! There's towels under the sink." Xeno tells him.

"Ice cream." Gen interrupts, from his arms.

Xeno had forgotten he was carrying the ice cream in his hands and glances down to see the toddler struggling to reach for it.

"We'll be in the kitchen." Xeno tells the other man, before leaving the room to give him privacy to shower. 

"Hold up Gen. We're almost there." 

The young boy was starting to squirm in his arms desperate to grab the cup. Xeno must tighten his hold on Gen so the toddler wouldn't fall out of his arms. They make it into the kitchen, and he slips Gen into his highchair. He grabs a spoon and bib from the drawer before making his way over back to the baby. He ties the bib that has sunflowers plastered onto it on him and then hands him the spoon.

"You have to eat it with the spoon." Xeno reminds him, sitting down at the table.

He watches Gen dig into the ice cream and scoffs when he sees the mess Gen is making already. The ice cream was more like soup at this point since it had melted along the way home, but his nephew didn't seem to mind and was happily eating it anyway. 

"Please be good for the rest of the day Gen." Xeno begs, watching as the toddler accidently spills some of the soupy cold treat onto the highchair table.

Gen ignores him and Xeno shakes his head looking over to the wall to check the time. The clock indicates it's a little over 1pm. That means he still has about 8 hours to go before he could put Gen to bed. His plan was to set the toddler down in his little table in the living room, turn the TV on to a Disney movie, and then sit on the couch with Stan so they could catch up. It seemed easy peasy, but in reality anything could go wrong. Gen could randomly knock his ice cream cup on the ground right now, decide he didn't feel like watching TV today, or just randomly have a fit for no reason. Anything was possible. 

As he waits for Gen to finish and Stan to get done showering, he sits there trying to come up with multiple plans to have as backup just in case any of these instances happen. Around 10 minutes pass before Gen drops his spoon on the ground and giggles.

"I done." He tells Xeno, raising his hands for his guardian to pull him out of the highchair.

"We don't throw our spoons down on the ground after we finish using them Gen." Xeno scolds him, bending down to pick up the utensil.

He lays the discarded spoon on the table and then reaches over to grab Gen out of the highchair. He holds his nephew at arm's length away because the toddler's mouth and bib are filthy with chocolate ice cream. He's putting the cup in trash when he hears footsteps approach behind him. Xeno looks over his shoulder and there stood Stan in a white t-shirt, black joggers, and his silver hair still slightly damped. 

"Sorry if the hot water only lasted a few minutes." Xeno says, while finishing tidying up the mess Gen made. 

"It's fine. I went weeks without bathing sometimes overseas. Cold water is better than no water." 

Xeno blinks at that statement. He forgets that being stationed overseas in a foreign country must have been harsh at times for his friend. Those that live in more privileged parts of the world take for granted how lucky they are to be able to have such luxuries as hot running water. He takes note to remember to be cautious on what he says to Stan in the future.

"I'm going to go clean Gen's face and hands in the bathroom really quick." Xeno tells him, before moving past him to head out of the kitchen.

He listens to Stan follow him out and then watches him sit on the couch while Xeno makes his way to the bathroom. He puts Gen's hands into the running water and is reaching for the soap when the toddler suddenly pulls his small palms back out resulting in him splashing water on Xeno.

"Cold!" Gen screeches, starting to wildly flick his hands making water go everywhere. 

"It's not cold Gen. Stop being overdramatic." Xeno scoffs, putting his hands in the water to feel that it's lukewarm.

He urges the toddler to quickly put his hands back under the running water, but Gen is being difficult and refusing. So Xeno has to grab his hands to lathe his palms with soap before dragging them under the water to rinse the soap off. Gen struggles the whole time, upset that Xeno was forcing him to clean his hands and face. 

"You mind if I use your laptop to shoot my commander an email telling them I landed fine?" He hears Stan ask from the living room. 

"Yeah sure. It's in my laptop case by the couch." Xeno shouts from the bathroom, handing Gen the towel to dry his hands with. 

He lets Gen try to dry his hands by himself before he finishes it up for him. He then hangs the towel back on the rack before washing his own hands and then guiding his nephew back to the living room. When he arrives, he sees Stan staring down at his laptop on the couch. 

"Nice laptop. I really like the unicorn stickers."

Xeno flushes, remembering that his chromebook was plastered with numerous children's stickers on the front. 

"I'm trying to potty train Gen and I give him stickers as incentives for using the restroom."

Potty training these past few months had been difficult. Xeno's sister had been in the process of potty training his nephew before the accident. He remembers the first night he had brought Gen home and after the toddler had finally sobbed himself to sleep, Xeno had crashed out too. He woke up a few hours later to Gen crying beside him and feeling a wet sensation underneath him. He had opened his eyes to see the toddler with a red tear stained face, holding onto his shirt, and telling him he did potty. Which left Xeno disgusted, trying to scramble away from the soaked sheets, and falling off the bed in the process. 

He had ended up going to the library the next day to check out a large amount of potting training books to try to get over this hurdle. The months after that Xeno learned that potty training was a laboring nightmare. He had tried everything in the books, but nothing was working. He ended up having to put Gen back into diapers and think outside the box to come up with a strategy. He recalls at one time he had been so desperate for any solutions that he considered creating a scrum board to fit into the toddlers everyday learning tasks. 

At the time he thought it was a brilliant plan and had went to the store to buy a white board, post it notes, and other supplies he would need to build the board. He had spent that next day coming up with a way to incorporate agile techniques, that he used for himself for college, that could be combined to make a "Gen's Learn, Learning, Learnt" board. 

Looking back, he realizes the board was an ignorant idea. He had written down the words Learn, Learning, and Learnt across the top on the white board and placed on the side downwards written on colorful sticky notes where all the things he was teaching Gen to do. On the top was potty training, then down below that was pick up toys, put on clothes, eat with utensils, brush teeth, count to 10, say thank you and please, and numerous other things he was hoping for Gen to learn to do by himself. 

The goal was for Gen to see his progress and be inspired and encouraged to want to move the sticky note to the next phase of the board. He had placed the board eye level for Gen to see and had explained to the 2 year old how it worked. That had resulted in the toddler tilting his head and giving him a blank stare. Xeno had been cooking dinner at that time and when the oven ringer had gone off, he told the baby to wait where he was while he went to check on their meal. 

When he had come back, he was baffled to see that Gen had started taking the colorful sticky notes off the board and was putting them on himself instead. As he watched his nephew ,sitting on the floor covered in rainbow paper, giggling while putting the remaining post-it notes on the white board onto himself, he came to the conclusion that this was one of the most foolish plans he had ever constructed. He couldn't believe he thought a 2 year old would understand the concept of the board and concur with it. 

Now the makeshift board was hanging in his room and he was using it to track Gen's progress for himself. Unfortunately, they hadn't made too much advancement on it. Most of the sticky notes were still on Learn or Learning and none of them had moved onto Learnt. 

It wasn't until 2 weeks ago when he was at work during his break scrolling through his phone to read more parenting articles about potty training, that he finally found a solution. The person who provided him with that idea had snuck up behind him and asked him what he was looking at, making Xeno almost drop his phone onto the floor. He had looked over to his side to see none other than Byakuya smiling at him. Xeno was having a not too great day, that day. Gen had spilled apple juice all over his neatly freshly printed out research paper for class and he was about to tell the older man he was busy, until he remembered that the retired astronaut had 3 very young children himself. 

He was contemplating whether he should ask or not because he knew he would be stuck listening to the other man talk to him for the rest of his break. But he also knew from his nonstop rambling about his family, that his coworker had a 4 year old daughter and his son was the same age as Gen. So, he had to have some experience with this. Xeno was desperate for any advice so he asked. Byakuya had laughed and told him yes, he taught his oldest daughter Ruri and was teaching his son Senku right now. Xeno had asked if he could shed any knowledge or tips on how to potty train Gen. The older man told him that for his daughter Ruri he rewarded her stickers every time she went. Xeno was flabbergasted because that worked? It seemed too simple. Byakuya had laughed again and told him yeah that she really loved stickers. 

He then mentioned that for Senku, the toddler and him agreed that for every 10 times he did potty in the restroom he would get him a new book to read. Xeno questioned how they determined the young boy had went that many times and his coworker told him that they came up with a board where every time he went, he would put it down on the board for him to track his progress. So, Byakuya's son could understand the concept of a board, but Gen couldn't? Xeno was starting to question again if his nephew was being difficult on purpose to annoy him. 

Byakuya told him that Senku liked to read so unless Gen enjoyed books too, that concept probably wouldn't work and he should try the sticker one. Xeno was impressed that the man's son knew how to read some. The retired astronaut claimed that Senku knew how to read a bit and was still learning, but he still preferred books with lots of pictures. 

In the numerous early childhood development books he had read, it had mentioned that most kids didn't learn to read till they were 6 years old and some could start as early as 4. It was very remarkable, and he wondered if he should press Gen more on his learning because his nephew still couldn't count to 10 without skipping numbers. 

He considered Byakuya's sticker advice and after work that day he went to the store with Gen. He let the toddler pick out sticker packs he liked and then once they got home, he carefully explained to Gen that if he used the potty in the bathroom he could get a few stickers each time. The first day it went rocky in the beginning, but once Gen got the idea that he would get stickers if he went to the bathroom he started falling into the pattern. 

2 weeks later the idea seemed to stick and work. Xeno was hoping the motivation for getting stickers would continue to encourage his nephew.

"The sticker thing actually works?" Stan asks, opening the laptop to start it up.

"Yeah it has been, but he enjoys putting them on my laptop." Xeno says looking down at his nephew who was staring in Stan's direction.

The first stickers Gen had gotten from using the bathroom, the toddler had put them on Xeno's chromebook. The baby had laughed, and he just let his nephew do it because at least he did potty in the restroom. Xeno didn't realize that was a mistake at the time because then after that every sticker Gen got, he stuck it onto his laptop.

Now the front of his computer was heavily decorated with flowers, Disney princesses, colorful popsicles, unicorns, and many more different stickers. He had tried to stop Gen and encouraged him to stick them somewhere else, but the toddler wouldn't budge and insisted on putting them on the chromebook. Xeno had at one point even tried to scrape them off his laptop, but Gen had thrown a fit and cried until he promised he wouldn't do it. 

He was doomed to go to work and class with a computer with bright purple and pink stickers plastered onto the front of it. Most of his coworkers and classmates thought it was cute once he explained why his laptop looked like this. Xeno had to tell himself to accept the shame he felt because he would rather carry around a laptop decorated with children's stickers then change another diaper in his life. He does often wonder if his nephew gets a kick out of embarrassing him and that incentive is more appealing than the stickers themselves. 

"Well at least he's not having accidents. Besides it gives your computer personality, really screams 3 year old kid." Stan chuckles, logging into the home screen. 

Xeno glares at his friend and was about to retort back with his own playful comment, but he catches Gen going over to where Stan was sitting. The toddler moves closer, gets on his top toes, and attempts to reach out with his little hands to close the laptop shut. 

"Mine." Gen exclaims, struggling to shut the computer close. 

"Gen! What are you doing?" Xeno exclaims coming over to grab the toddler who was continuing to try to close the laptop on Stan. 

"Mine." Gen says again, now trying to push himself up onto the couch.

"No, it's not yours. Stan is just borrowing it." 

Xeno quickly scoops Gen up before the baby could lean over Stan and try to close the computer on him. The toddler doesn't appreciate this and starts to struggle in his arms again. 

"Umm." Xeno hears Stan say. He looks over to see his friend was staring at the both of them with an unsure expression.

"It's fine Stan. Gen's just being cranky. Maybe he wants to take a nap?" Xeno says, sitting down on the opposite end of the couch where Stan was sitting. 

"No!" Gen exclaims, pouting at his guardian for stopping him from trying to let the stranger touch the laptop.

"How about we watch TV instead then." 

Xeno grabs the remote and turns on the TV. He pulls up the streaming service app and is about to click on a Disney movie, when Gen loudly speaks up.

"Mawgic show." Gen demands, looking up at his guardian. 

"Fine fine we can watch that." 

Xeno exits out of the streaming app and opens up a new one to click on the magic show that Gen enjoyed watching. The toddler asks to be put down and Xeno gladly complies. He watches Gen walk over to sit at his little table while he watches the show.

"Is this that fool us show?" Stans says, his eyes on the TV as they watch the magician on the show magically make a deck of cards disappear.

"Yeah it is. Gen enjoys watching it."

"Does he understand what is going on? Last I checked I don't think this show is for kids."

"I'm actually not 100% sure if he does or not." Xeno says, looking over at his nephew to see the toddler clapping his hands along with the crowd as the magician performs on stage. 

Gen becoming obsessed with the magic show had started about a month ago. Xeno had been doing classwork on the couch while his nephew was watching TV. He was so wrapped up in getting his work done he hadn't noticed that Gen had accidently changed the station and was watching something entirely different. It wasn't until he had looked up when he heard the judge on the show let out a curse word and saw Gen's eyes glued to the screen on a show that wasn't Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. 

He had quickly tried to change the station back, but as soon as he did Gen started screaming for him to put it back on. Xeno told him that show was for adults which resulted in Gen crying until he gave in and put the magic show back on. That started the toddler's obsession with watching it and now the only two things they could ever watch in the house were Disney movies and Penn & Teller Fool Us. 

Xeno had no earthly idea if Gen even understood what was going on in the show. He didn't think a 2 year old would understand the concept of magic since it was such an abstract idea, but with the way Gen eyes were focused on the TV every time the show aired he wonders if maybe he did have some idea what was happening. He didn't think the toddler attention span would allow him to watch a show if he didn't understand what was going on, on screen. 

"Guess it's better than Barney." 

"Definitely is. I had to buy a Hulu subscription just so he could watch this show anytime he wants too." 

"Wait. You started paying for a monthly subscription just to watch this one show?" Stan asks, looking up at him from where he was typing on the laptop.

"Yes. He kept begging me to put the show on and every time I told him it wasn't airing on TV he would break down. So, I had to purchase it against my will. I rather pay $9.99 a month than have to listen to endless crying." 

"What other subscriptions do you have?"

"Disney Plus."

"So only Disney movies and Fool Us are allowed?" 

"Yep. Hope you're okay with that. If not, you'll have to wait till after 9pm to watch anything else."

"Why 9pm?"

"That's when Gen goes to sleep. After that you're free to watch whatever you want to your heart's content."

Stan laughs and Xeno smiles at the sound. He continues to watch a magician do a mirror trick on TV while Stan finishes typing up the email to his instructor. The man on stage was randomly putting one hand in front and in the back of the mirror and pulling out the same objects he had in front of the mirror from the back. Xeno didn't believe in magic because the tricks could always be explained rationally. But he still did have to admit the show was rather entertaining and he did enjoy trying to decipher how the magicians on stage did the tricks. 

He's too busy engrossed in the show trying to decide if the magician had a shelf behind the mirror that he was grabbing the items from, that he jumps slightly when he hears Stan close the laptop shut and put it back into its case. 

"Are you done?"

"Yep." Stan responds, stretching out his arms.

"Do you mind watching Gen really quick while I go grab something?" Xeno asks.

"Okay."

"I won't be gone long." Xeno says, getting up to make his way to his room. 

He opens his closet and pulls out two neatly wrapped boxes that he had placed in there last week. They were Stan's coming home gifts that he picked out for his friend. Well one of them was at least the other was more a joke, but also would greatly benefit Stan if he followed through with it. He carries them into his arms and starts to exit his room.

The two presents were wrapped in Frozen wrapping paper and Xeno was slightly embarrassed about it. When he had went to the store to pick up wrapping supplies, Gen had insisted on them getting the Frozen paper. Xeno explained to him that the paper was going to be for Stan, and they were going to buy a plain blue one instead. Gen unfortunately didn't understand and made a huge scene until Xeno gave in and bought the Frozen wrapping paper. He knew Stan wouldn't care, but still he found it odd to give a grown man a present that was wrapped in paper that had Elsa, Anna, and Olaf's faces plastered onto it. 

He walks back into the living room and puts both the boxes behind his back so Stan wouldn't see them. When he enters both Stan and Gen turn to look in his direction.

"What are you hiding from me Xeno?" Stan asks.

"Close your eyes." Xeno smiles, coming closer. 

"And if I refuse?"

"Then I guess you'll never find out what it is I have behind my back." 

"Fine you win." Stan says, closing his eyes shut. 

Xeno comes over to sit down right next to Stan, where their knees are touching. He places down both presents onto his lap and then makes sure he puts the one he wants him to open first on top.

"Okay you can open your eyes now."

"You really didn't have to get me anything." Stan sighs, opening his eyes to look down at the wrapped boxes. 

"Too bad! I wanted too so you better suck it up and open them! Start with the top one first." 

"Nice wrapping paper. You know I've never seen this movie before."

"Well I hope you're ready to watch it at least 10 times every week." Xeno laughs, watching Stan start to rip off the paper. 

He watches his friend finish taking the paper off and then open the box. Xeno smirks knowing exactly what Stan was about to find in the first box awaiting him. 

"Is this a joke Xeno? Because I'm not laughing." Stan says, pulling out a book from the box. 

"It's not a joke Stan! We are going to go through the regime together. I expect you to read a chapter a day and we will document your progress down daily until you quit that horrible habit of yours."

He watches Stan flip through the pages shaking his head in disbelief. Xeno had found this nice little book at a local bookstore while trying to find some learning books for Gen. He remembers picking up the book titled "Quit Smoking Boot Camp" and laughing wondering what Stan's reaction would be if he saw this book. That picture alone made him actually buy the book, but upon reading it when he got home, he realized it was actually informative and now he really did hope the other man would at least try to crack it open to read. 

"You know this is actually kinda offensive." Stan jokes, running his thumb under the words boot camp. 

"Just because it has the words boot camp in the title doesn't mean it's prejudice towards you." Xeno chuckles. 

"Can't believe you expect me to follow through with this thing. You know these sorta books don't work right."

"You will never know unless you try. This type of tactic might only work for a small percent of people, but you won't know if you're part of that pool unless you try. I just worry about you Stan." Xeno whispers, glancing at his friend with a concern expression. 

He really was greatly concerned about his friend’s health and well-being. Xeno cared about Stan too much and wanted him to live a long healthy life. He knew it was going to be a difficult journey for Stan to quit smoking if he ever decided he wanted to, but Xeno would always be by his side to help him along the way in any situation he needed. 

"Thanks, Xeno. Maybe we can go through a few chapters together and see what happens." Stan says, putting the book aside to open the next gift.

The next present was a personal one that made Xeno slightly nervous to see how Stan would react to it. He wasn't quite sure why it made him anxious, but he knew that he wanted Stan to like it. 

"I hope you like it. I saw it in the store, and I remembered you enjoyed wearing bracelets when we were younger, so I thought it would suit you." Xeno stammers out, watching as Stan took out the bracelet from the small box. 

The bracelet that Stan was admiring and moving around to look at from all angles was a galaxy bracelet. The bracelet had stone beads in different shapes and sizes around it that represented the different planets in the milky way galaxy. In the middle was a bead called Tiger's eye that represented Jupiter and then the two other stones around it were a red one for Mars, yellow one for Saturn, and so on. There were also beads at the end that represented shooting stars and black holes. 

Xeno had saw the bracelet a few weeks ago in the window of a gift shop on site at NASA. Every time he would pass by the little window to the shop and see the bracelet displayed there he thought of Stan. When they were younger his childhood friend got into the hobby of collecting silly bandz when the craze hit their school and from then on Stan would always be seen wearing a few bracelets around his wrists. After continuing to stop and stare at the bracelet every time he walked past the window when arriving and leaving work, he decided he was going to get it for the other man. He figured it would be a great coming home gift and was now just hoping Stan liked the present. 

"I love it Xeno. It's perfect." Stan says, slipping it on. 

Xeno grins brightly, thrilled that Stan liked the gift he picked out for him. He feels that same warmth from earlier spread through him, but once again he doesn't have time to question it because he hears small footsteps approach them. A small pressure is applied onto his knee and he looks down to see that Gen was trying to climb onto the couch in between Stan and him.

"I sit." Gen says, attempting to move their knees apart and haul himself up into the space. 

"Gen you can sit right here next to me." Xeno says, patting the space to his right that was empty.

"No here." Gen responds, managing to push himself up onto Xeno's knee.

"Fine." Xeno says, grabbing Gen so he could scoot over to make space for the toddler between them.

Once his nephew is sitting in between them, he scoots himself closer to Xeno until he’s hugging his guardian arm in a tight lock with his small arms. 

"What has got into you Gen? You were never this clingy before today." Xeno asks, trying to move his arm a bit, but Gen wouldn't let go.

Xeno shakes his head at his nephew's attaching behavior before turning his attention back to Stan. His friend however is glancing down at Gen with an expression on his face that Xeno can't read. 

"Thanks for the gifts Xeno." Stan finally says, looking back up at him. 

"You're welcome Stan! I'm glad you liked them."

Stan nods and then starts to gather up the paper that he ripped off the presents into a pile. 

"I got it Stan! Let go real quick Gen." Xeno says, trying to get up to pick up the mess.

"No." Gen responds, tightening his grip.

"Gen you have 5 seconds to let go. One, Two, Three." 

"Nine, Seven." Gen finishes, still not letting go. 

"It's Four and Five, Gen." Xeno corrects, glaring at the toddler for not listening.

"It's fine Xeno. I got it." Stan says, getting up and gathering all the paper into his hands before leaving the room to throw the trash out. 

"What did I say about being good today? You have to listen to me when I tell you to do things." Xeno scolds, sitting back down.

Gen ignores him and instead stands up to try to wrap his arms around Xeno's neck. Xeno tries to gently push the toddler back because he didn't appreciate him crowding his personal space like that. 

"Mine." Gen says, trying again.

"What are you talking about?" Xeno asks instead, grabbing the baby and putting him on top of his lap. 

Xeno had no idea why Gen was behaving like this today. Normally when they were in the house the toddler did his own thing and never asked to be carried around. Often when Xeno did carry him, the young boy would just thrash in his arms and demand to be put down. So, he found it odd that Gen was being extremely clingy today. He wondered if maybe he was nervous because of Stan being in their home, but the toddler wasn't showing signs of being anxious. It was quite the opposite in fact his nephew seemed upset? He wasn't sure of what and why.

"I grabbed a water bottle, I hope that's okay." Stan says, when he comes back into the room and sits back down next to him.

"Of course! You don't have to ask. Anything in this house is yours too." 

"You know food goes inside the fridge, right? Last I checked you can't eat water bottles and that leftover Chinese food looked weeks old." Stan jokes.

"I haven't had a chance to go grocery shopping this week!" 

"Yeah I can tell." Stan chuckles, bringing the bottle up to take a swig.

Xeno is about to retort back, but then he notices Gen attempting to push Stan away from where he was sitting near them. 

"Gen! We do not push people. Apologize to Stan."

"It's fine Xeno. I get it." Stan says, scooting to the side a bit away from Gen's tiny hands.

"What do you mean you get it?" Xeno asks, not sure what his friend was applying.

"He's on edge. I'm a stranger in his house around the person who's been caring for him for months now."

Oh. Was that it? Xeno glances down at Gen to see the toddler staring daggers into Stan and tightening his grip on his arm. He guesses that explains why his nephew was being so clingy today for no reason. But why would Gen, feel threatened by Stan. The other man had done nothing but be nice and calm around him. 

"Gen, remember what I said about Stan being my friend? He's going to be living here for a while, so we have to be nice, okay?" 

Gen ignores him once again and instead snuggles his face into Xeno's chest. He'll just have to keep reminding his nephew about that statement and hope the toddler stops behaving this way. 

"So, are you cooking now? Or just surviving off take-out still?" Stan asks, trying to change the subject. 

Xeno flushes slightly at his comment. He knew that Stan knew he wasn't the best cook. Stan had seen firsthand, some of his few failed attempts at cooking and how disastrous they came out. 

"I have a bit, but it's no were as good as your cooking."

"Oh yeah. What have you been trying to cook?"

Xeno explains in great detail all the failed attempts at meals he's tried to cook for Gen and him. Stan listens and teases him along the way, as Xeno starts listening off all the recipes he's tried and how he has no idea why they came out so bad when he followed them step by step. 

"I've really been trying Stan! It's so frustrating knowing that none of them are coming out right." 

"Maybe you're just adding the wrong things."

"I'm not. I'm following the instructions step by step!"

"Well I can teach you how to cook if you want."

"Would you really? I would appreciate it truly!" Xeno exclaims, grateful that his friend would help him out in an area he was lacking in.

"Sure. But we need to actually get the ingredients to make stuff first."

"We can go tomorrow to the store, if that's okay with you."

"Yeah that sounds good. I have to buy a laptop and phone anyway so I can get that while at the store."

"Great. We can go in the morning. What are we cooking?"

"What do you want to cook Xeno?"

"Something easy." Xeno says, hoping Stan had something not hard in mind.

"How about Mac n Cheese? The kid seemed to like that."

"No please anything, but that. How about you surprise me?" Xeno scuffs, not wanting to see mac n cheese again for a while. 

"It won't be much of a surprise if you see me putting all the ingredients into the basket." Stan states, messing with the bracelet Xeno gave him on his wrist.

"True. I want you to pick then. I'm fine with anything, honestly."

"Fine. What does the kid like and not like, so I know what to avoid."

Xeno starts listing off all the foods that Gen enjoyed or was picky about. That conversation somehow branches off to what foods Stan ate while he was overseas. 

"You ate frogs to survive out in the battlefield?" 

"Yep. Tastes just like chicken, but more slimy." 

"How did you catch them?"

"We set traps sometimes because the jumping makes them difficult to catch by hand. I had to concentrate really hard to shoot a couple down."

"You shot the frogs?!"

"Duh, dinner is dinner. I didn't want to starve out there."

"That's… eerily compelling."

"I'm joking Xeno. We didn't eat or catch frogs on the battlefield."

"Stan!"

The conversation continues and they fall into their familiar banter, enjoying the other's company. At one point Gen had fallen asleep on Xeno's lap. He had gently placed his nephew on the couch next to him, so the toddler could sleep more comfortably. He knew that the baby was going to crash out eventually. Ever since Gen started going to daycare, the toddler had started taking naps more frequently during the day because he became used to having them at the daycare. Xeno was grateful because that allowed him to have a few hours of free time during the weekends and because now he could talk freely with Stan without his nephew trying to get in between them. 

Xeno wasn't sure how long they sat there talking among themselves. Stan had asked Xeno if food could be grown in space and he was happily explaining the Vegetable Production System on the space station, when he heard rustling on his right side. He looked back to see Gen had woken up and was rubbing his eyes while yawning.

"Did you have a good nap?" Xeno asks, his nephew. 

"I hungry." Gen responds, crawling over to snuggle into his guardians side. 

When Xeno looks up at the clock on the wall he notices that it's almost 6pm. Had they really been talking that long? It didn't see that long, but apparently, they had been so wrapped up in conversating that time slipped by them. 

"Are you hungry Stan?"

"Sure, I can eat."

"What do you feel like eating?" Xeno asks, pulling out his phone from his pocket to bring up places nearby. 

"Anything is fine."

"You always say that. I shouldn't have even asked. You're no help." Xeno says, rolling his eyes at Stan's automatic response to picking meals.

"Fine you want a choice. How about that one. Pizza sounds good." Stan says, leaving over to point at the first choice that popped up on Xeno's phone search.

"Do you want pizza, Gen?"

"Peppwerni."

"Yes, we can get pepperoni. There's pick-up or delivery." Xeno says, pulling up the ordering app on the phone. 

"Pwick-up."

"No Gen we are going to get it delivered so we don't have to go out."

"No dwlivery"

"Yes delivery." 

"No."

"We are getting it delivered and that is final, Gen. Do you want anything else Stan?" Xeno asks, ignoring Gen's demands for them to pick-up the pizza. 

"No-" Stan starts, but doesn't get to finish before Gen starts crying loudly.

"Someone woke up cranky." Xeno says, pressing send order on their meal.

Xeno closes his phone and glances over to see his nephew was sitting on his bottom with big fat tears falling down his face. He was used to the toddler having random temper tantrums over the simplest of things. It didn't faze him that Gen was sobbing over them getting the pizza delivered and not picking it up. He wonders sometimes if Gen just wanted to argue with him over anything because he was sure his nephew truly didn't care how the pizza got to them. 

"Want pwick-up!" Gen screams, trying to crawl over to Xeno to get his attention.

"I'm sorry Stan." Xeno apologizes, turning his attention to his friend instead of his nephew.

"You seem like you have a lot of experience with this."

"I do. I just ignore him and let him cry it out. He'll stop once the pizza comes." 

That's what Xeno does. He tries to start up a conversation with Stan again while they wait for the pizza. Gen continues to sob next to him and he still ignores the toddler. He knew his nephew was loud and could tell Stan wasn't appreciating the loud noise from how he flinched constantly from Gen screaming, but this was the only way to correct the toddler's behavior.

Around 20 minutes pass and then the door-bell rings. Xeno quickly gets up, places Gen on Stan's lap, and makes a run for the door before his friend can stop him. He gets halfway around the couch, until he feels something pull him back and looks over his shoulder to see that Stan had grabbed the hem of his shirt before he could escape to the door. 

"Here some money to pay for it." Stan says, offering him numerous dollar bills.

"Nope! You paid for lunch, so I'll get this." 

"Take the money Xeno."

'What was that Stan? I didn't hear you."

"Shut up. You heard me." Stan says, reaching over further to try to stuff the money into his hands. 

"Oops looks like my hands disappeared." Xeno says, before putting his hands behind his back so Stan couldn't try to force the money onto him.

"Open your mouth then."

Xeno struggles to try to loosen Stan's hold on him so he can run away while also closing his mouth shut, so his friend wouldn't be able to stuff the filthy bills into his mouth. Xeno finally sees an opportunity when Gen starts to try to push away from Stan and distracts the other man long enough for him to yank free from his grip. Xeno pays for the pizza and then quickly makes his way back with the boxes. When he walks back to the living room, he sees that Gen had moved away from Stan, stopped sobbing, and instead was sniffling with a huge pout on his tear stained face.

"Are you done crying for today?" Xeno asks his nephew, coming over to stand behind the couch.

Xeno watches Gen give him a dirty look before getting up on his legs to try to open the pizza box up.

"Want pizza"

"Wait. Let me go put this down and then I'll come get you to wash your hands." 

"I got it Xeno." Stan says, getting up and coming over to grab the boxes from him. 

"Thank you." 

Xeno hands Stan the boxes before picking up Gen to take him to the bathroom. Thankfully Gen does not struggle with him washing his hands and lets him do it quickly. Once there done they head to the kitchen and Xeno puts Gen in his highchair.

"No cut." Gen says, watching as Xeno cuts his pizza slice into tiny pieces. 

"No, I have to cut it so you don't choke on it." Xeno responds.

Xeno places Gen's cut up pizza plate onto his table and watches his nephew dig in, stuffing whole pieces into his mouth. 

"Take small bites Gen!"

"It's good. Should have got supreme. Pizza takes better with everything on it." Stan mentions, as they eat.

"No, it doesn't. Olives should never touch a pizza." 

"Have you ever tried olives on your pizza Xeno? Zinnia liked it and ya'll are siblings. That means you might too."

It's been a long time since Xeno has heard someone mention his sister's name out loud. It feels odd, like he'll turn around and she'll be there behind him. Which he knows is not possible. It's not that he disliked Stan saying her name out loud, it's just that the only other person near him that knew his sister was Gen. It threw him off guard, but he quickly tells himself to shake it off because it's been months and of course Stan would mention her by name. 

"Just because we were related doesn't mean siblings share the same taste buds Stan." 

They continue to eat as Stan argues with him about genetics and how they affect taste preferences. Things are going fine, until his friend decides to ask him a more personal question.

"Hey Xeno. Can I ask you something personal?"

"Sure, what is it Stan?" 

"Have you visited Zinnia's grave recently?"

He hadn't, not since he went to her funeral. He felt the guilt wash over him every time he remembered how he hadn't since then. He would like to say it's because he's been insanely busy, but that was only half the truth. The other half was that he was purposely avoiding going to their hometown and her grave site. He wasn't sure why since he had talked to his therapist about how he understood death was unavoidable and happened to us all. But anytime he thought of his sister he felt an intense emotion rise up in him that he didn't want to linger on too long. 

"I get flowers delivered to her grave every week." 

"Do you mind if I go and visit her grave?"

Xeno knew Stan would want to eventually go to his sister's grave after arriving back home. She meant a lot to Stan just like she did to him. It was natural for Stan to want to mourn since he didn't get to due to being overseas. He would never prevent his friend from doing that.

"Of course, you can Stan. In fact, how about we all go… it might be good for all of us to go together." 

Xeno meant that. If Stan was there with him, Xeno felt he could confront his sister's grave again. He had been avoiding her grave for too long and maybe seeing it again would help settle this intense grief he still felt anytime he thought of her.

"Are you sure? I can go alone Xeno if you don't feel comfortable."

"No. I-I feel like with you here I can do it."

"Okay. If you're sure."

"Yes, I'm sure. I guess we could go Monday? I have off since it's Labor Day." 

"Alright. I won't be upset if you change your mind between now and then."

"Thank you, Stan." Xeno smiles, glad his friend understood his hesitation on the manner. 

This would be good. They could spend the day around their hometown driving around and reliving some memories together. The only concern he had was Gen, but the therapist said it was important to still involve his mom's memory into his life. He could do this.

Once they're done eating, they pick up the mess and Xeno washes Gen's face and hands. They make their way back to the couch and the toddlers demands they watch Frozen after catching a glimpse of the paper from earlier in the trash. 

"I guess you're going to get to watch this movie today."

"Yeah sure. As long as the whole thing isn't singing."

"There's only around two songs, I promise." Xeno lies.

He wanted to continue chatting with Stan, but the toddler decided he wanted to sit right in between the two of them again. Which made talking difficult, so instead he sits back and let's his thoughts drift. Xeno had seen this movie over a thousand times that he could recite the whole thing by memory if ever needed. It was quite boring and about halfway through the movie he's debating on asking Stan if he wants to go back to the kitchen to talk, but when he looks over to the other man, he notices that Stan had doze off. 

The silver haired man must have been exhausted. Xeno never did get a serious answer from him about what he did while on the plane, but by this point he guessed Stan had been awake for almost 24 hours. Xeno decides to let his friend continue to sleep and turns his attention back to the screen waiting for the movie to be over. Soon the ending credits come on and Xeno turns the TV off.

"Time for bed Gen."

"No." Gen says, yawning.

"You just yawned, I know you're tired."

Xeno picks the toddler up who squirms in his grasp and leans over to gently shake Stan awake.

"Stan the movie is over. We are going to go to sleep now."

He watches his friend slowly stir awake before stretching his arms. Stan turns his head up to look at Xeno before getting up so they can make their way to the room.

"The movie was alright. Might need to watch it a second time to fully appreciate it yah know."

"Uh huh. I don't think watching the first 10 minutes of it would really allow you to understand it fully." Xeno jokes. 

After they enter his room, Xeno quickly dresses his nephew up in his PJ's and gets them both ready for bed. Xeno was staring down into Gen's crib once he was finished, hoping desperately that this would work.

"Okay Gen. You have to sleep in your crib because Stan is going to sleep in the bed with me." He tells the toddler. Lowering the baby into the crib.

"No." 

"Please Gen. I need you to sleep here for me starting tonight."

He struggles with the toddler as Gen refuses to lay down in the crib. Xeno was desperate to get his nephew to lie down and the baby wasn't budging which resulted in Gen starting to cry again. 

"No!" Gen shouts, standing up and trying to climb over his crib.

"Look Xeno, it's not a problem I can sleep on the couch." He hears Stan say from where he was leaning against the bathroom entryway watching the scene unfold. 

"No Stan it's fine. You're going to sleep on the bed tonight with me and Gen's going to sleep in his crib." Xeno says, trying to push the frustrated tears back. 

Today had been a long tough day and Gen had caused so many problems for him in the span of a few hours. The day was supposed to be a joyful emotional one where he reunited with Stan and they spent, long awaited time enjoying each other's company without any troubles. Gen had made that difficult for him and he knew he shouldn't blame the toddler for that since he was a baby, but he couldn't help feeling some resentment towards his nephew. He felt extremely guilty for feeling that emotion about him because he really did cherish the toddler, but it was there and he didn't know how to address it.

He was overly overwhelmed at this point and Gen was getting him more worked up by struggling with him and sobbing, making that negative emotion he hated to feel grow. He knew the toddler was not used to sleeping by himself and it was partially his fault for not breaking that habit. But he also just wanted to smuggle up into bed, be near Stan's warm calm presence, and sleep peacefully until the morning. Gen was going to make that lovely scenario fade away for him if he kept being difficult and not follow his directions. It made him irritated.

He was trying to calm himself down and take deep breaths, when he suddenly felt a comforting weight on his shoulder. He looks to see a hand placed upon there and turns to his right to see Stan standing beside him now, looking down at him with a concerned expression.

"Are you okay, Xeno?"

"Yeah I'm fine."

He wasn't fine, but he didn't want to worry Stan. The hand on his shoulder starts to rub soothing circles and Xeno relaxes a bit from Stan's consoling touch. The only solution he had left to use was his trump card. Bargaining with his nephew. Xeno knew it was horrible to negotiate with your child when he was the adult, but he was determined and desperate to get Gen to sleep in his crib. 

"Look Gen. How about we make a deal, yeah?" 

That gets the toddler's attention. He watches Gen stop trying to climb out of the crib and turn his tear stained face toward him, still slightly sobbing. 

"If you sleep in your crib tonight, I'll let you get whatever you want from the store tomorrow."

"Want?" Gen asks, starting to stop his intense crying.

"Yes, I'll let you pick one thing you want."

The toddler stares at him, almost like he's outweighing the pros and cons of getting what he wants over sleeping in the crib. Gen finally plops himself onto the crib bed and rubs his eyes.

"Kay." 

Oh. Xeno wasn't expecting it to be this easy. He thought his nephew would continue on crying or bickering with him. He doesn't question it and relief floods through him that Gen agreed to the deal.

"It's not far Gen. If you need me for anything all you have to do is say my name to wake me up." 

Gen sniffles and starts to lay down snuggling up close to Joker. Xeno tucks him in, holding his breath hoping that Gen wouldn't change his mind at the last minute. The toddler settles down and Xeno quickly makes his way over to turn off the light so they could go to sleep. He then slips into the bed exhausted from the long day. Xeno feels the bed dip and then hears Stan's voice near him in the dark.

"Bargaining with your kid, huh?" 

"Shhs Stan I'm trying to sleep." 

Xeno hears Stan chuckle before things go silent in his dark room. He moves to his side and yawns hoping he can fall asleep quickly tonight. He thought Stan had drifted off, but then he hears his voice through the darkness again.

"Goodnight Xeno."

"Goodnight Stan." Xeno says, before closing his eyes and mentally reciting a short speech, begging anyone in the cosmos to let his nephew sleep through the night with no issues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Xeno's sister's name is Zinnia! I figured she needed a name so I wouldn't keep repeating "Xeno's sister" when talking about her haha
> 
> I'm juggling writing this fic and then finishing my stanxeno time travel one so we'll see what happens! I'm determined to get to the beach part in this fic (:
> 
> Here's what Stan's [bracelet](https://imgur.com/uGeffjU) looks like and here is an example of the [board!](https://imgur.com/UA6afKq)
> 
> Thanks for reading! Here's my [Tumblr](https://habanerohamster.tumblr.com/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ghoulgecko?s=09) if interested! Tumblr is for my writing stuff and I follow fellow DCST fans back on Twitter!


	7. Purple Asters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeah I'm sorry it took months for this chapter to come out. I got busy with the holidays and class work. But I'm updating it again! 
> 
> Thank you guys so much for over 1000 hits and 100 kudos on this story!!! Never thought it would get that many when I first started this series.

"Gen!"

Stan jolts awake at Xeno's loud voice next to him. He groans when he slightly opens his eyes and is blinded by the morning sun peeking through the blinds. He's not sure what time it was, but it felt extremely early. He rolls over and hopes it was just Xeno talking in his sleep, so he could fall back asleep.

"How did you get on the bed?!" Stan hears Xeno exclaim behind him. 

Well so much for getting more sleep for the day. Stan rolls over to see what was having Xeno screeching this early in the morning. When he opens his eyes, he's first greeted to Xeno sitting up straight looking down at the space between the two of them. He drops his gaze down to see that he was staring down disapprovingly at his nephew who was sleeping soundly in between the two of them.

"Huh?" Stan mumbles, looking back up at Xeno.

"I woke up to someone pressing themselves against my back. I thought it was you but when I was rolled over, it was Gen. I have no idea how he even got out of his crib and climbed onto the bed."

"Looks like you got a little escape artist on your hands. You might be raising the next Houdini." Stan yawns, stretching his arms.

"This isn't a time for jokes Stan! He could have hurt himself. " Xeno states, glaring at him.

"Okay my bad. Can't you just wake him up and ask him how he did it?"

"You make it sound so easy." Xeno scoffs.

Stan shrugs because he had no idea what Xeno wanted him to do about the situation. He sits up along with his friend and watches him try to wake the toddler up.

"Gen. It's time to wake up." Xeno says, slightly shaking the baby awake.

"Mmm" 

The toddler ignores him and instead snuggles up closer into the pillow. Stan watches him try again and this time Gen flips over away from facing Xeno. 

"He's not a morning person." Xeno sighs.

"I don't blame him. It's too early"

"Do you want to go back to sleep?" Xeno asks.

"No, I'm fine. I need to get back on a normal sleep schedule anyway. Are you still tired?" 

"No... I wish I could take a shower." 

"Go ahead. I can watch the kid."

"Really?" Xeno asks, surprised.

"Yeah."

Stan could watch the kid. How hard could it be? He was asleep anyway. 

"Thank you so much Stan!" Xeno smiles.

Stan watches Xeno happily get out of the bed and walk over to his closet. He had no idea why his friend was so ecstatic about taking a simple shower. Xeno gathers his belongings for his bath but before he enters the bathroom he hesitates, looking over at him.

"Is it okay if I shut the door?" 

"Yeah?" 

"I'll make it quick I promise. If you need me for anything just knock." 

Stan watches Xeno enter the bathroom and close the door behind him. He listens to the shower turn on and then turns his attention down to the toddler. The baby was still curled up asleep in the blankets, snoring lightly. 

When he was asleep the kid looked cute, innocent, and harmless. But in the last 24 hours, Stan realized that was an act and the baby was quite a huge handful. He's never been around baby's much besides the rare occasional one at the foster homes he got placed in, so he's not too sure if they were all this terrible or if Gen was just a brat. 

Stan still couldn't believe all the troublesome antics the kid put Xeno and him through yesterday. That all happened in one single day, he wonders if this troublesome behavior was a frequent occurrence for his friend. That thought makes him feel immensely guilty for leaving Xeno alone all these months to face the tragic passing of his sister and raising a toddler by himself.

He desperately wished he would have been here by Xeno's side months ago when everything happened, but he knew deep down that wouldn't have been possible. It was an unfortunate unexpected event that turned both of their lives upside down. Even if he still felt guilty for not being here sooner, Stan was here now and he was going to make sure to be by Xeno's side always and help him as much as he could.

Stan feels the bed move and glances down to see the toddler starting to stir awake. He turns his gaze to the door and still hears the shower on. Stan was hoping Xeno would come out before the kid woke up, but that didn't seem to be the case. 

"Hey kid." Stan greets him, looking down at the toddler slowly opening his eyes.

He watches Gen yawn and then stretch his little arms above his head. The baby then kicks the blankets off himself before looking around the room frantically. Stan is guessing he must be looking for Xeno.

"Eno?" The toddler mumbles, sitting up from the bed to look around better.

"He's in the shower." Stan tells him, pointing to the bathroom door.

The toddler looks towards the door and then back up at him again. Stan awkwardly stares back into his dark grey eyes, not sure what to do now that he's awake. Gen then looks away and starts to try to crawl off the bed towards the door.

"Hey there little guy. You can't crawl off, you'll fall." Stan says, reaching over to grab him before he fell off the bed.

"No!" Gen yells, trying to squirm out of his hold.

Stan curses under his breath. The toddler was stronger than what he looked and started trying to kick and hit his hands away. 

"Xeno is almost done. He'll be out in a second." Stan says, lifting the kid up with both his hands.

Stan holds Gen out further away from him because the toddler was thrashing his arms and legs out trying to get out of his hold. Stan thinks the baby might have understood him because soon the young boy stops squirming and looks at him.

"Okay I'll put you down-" Stan starts, but stops when he sees the tears gathering at the corner of Gen's eyes.

"Eno!" Gen screams, big fat tears starting to fall from his dark eyes. 

"Shit." Stan mumbles, not sure what to do now. 

He decides to place Gen back down onto the bed. He reaches over to grab some pillows and makes a small little pillow fort around the toddler to stop him from crawling off the edge of the mattress. Gen is still bawling his eyes out and screaming Xeno's name, while Stan stares wide eyed at him wondering what to do next. Should he get up and knock on the door to tell Xeno? 

He doesn't have to do that however because he hears something loudly fall from the shower, curtains quickly be dragged open, the showing turning off, and the bathroom door slamming open with Xeno stumbling out of the bathroom in just a towel. 

"Gen!" Xeno exclaims, quickly coming over to the bed.

Stan watches in horror as Xeno trips and falls face first onto the bed. At least he didn't fall forward onto the ground, but his towel slips off and Stan looks away acting like he didn't just see what happened.

Stan feels the bed move and looks over to see Gen standing up still crying trying to get over the pillows to Xeno. He picks the toddler up and quickly hands him over to his friend who grabs him to hold him in his arms. 

"Shhs Gen it's okay. I'm here. I'm sorry I left without telling you." Xeno coos, trying to calm down the sobbing baby.

Gen starts to slowly stop his tears and soon he's just sniffling into Xeno's neck. Stan watches his friend rub soothing circles onto the toddlers back. Xeno doesn't seem to notice that he dropped his towel until he looks in Stan's direction and then down into his lap. 

Xeno flushes a bright red before reaching down for the towel to place it on his lap covering himself up. Stan has to quickly stop himself from chuckling at Xeno's cute embarrassed reaction to him realizing he was bare for the whole world to see.

"I'm sorry Stan." Xeno finally says, after calming down Gen.

"Why are you sorry Xeno. I'm the one who made him cry."

"I should have known that he could possibly wake up and not to leave him with you while I was gone. He's very weary of strangers and doesn't like to be left behind without me."

"It's fine Xeno." Stan says, not sure what else to say.

Thankfully Xeno doesn't say anymore and instead pulls Gen back to look at the toddler.

"And you. Why did you start screaming like that! You scared me half to death. I also fell and broke my neck in the shower!" Xeno scolds before bringing Gen back in for a hug.

Stan watches Xeno tightly hold his nephew before getting up from the bed. Xeno turns to look his way when he hears him move. 

"I'll leave you to finish getting ready in private." Stan says, looking down at Xeno's towel.

Xeno blushes slightly pink again and Stan smirks. He grabs a change of clothes and his supplies from his duffle bag and then leaves the room. He moves to the other restroom to quickly change his clothes and get ready for the day. Once he's done, he places his sleeping clothes neatly on the couch to put back in the room later and heads for the front door.

He closes the door behind him and walks to the balcony. Stan takes out his lighter and pulls out a cigarette from the carton to light it up. He leans his elbows against the balcony and brings the end of the cigarette to his mouth to inhale. The sun is shining brightly, and he brings his free hand up to block the light.

Stan's not sure what time it is because he didn't look when he woke up, but it seems early because there are numerous people dressed up in Sunday clothes gathered in front of a church across the street from the apartment. He watches them idly chatter among themselves while he smokes.

It's already been a hectic morning and it hasn't even been an hour. Stan learned really quick that days were tough when they involved a toddler in them. He thought maybe it was just a bad day judging from yesterday's events, but it seems that wasn't the case going by this morning. He didn't mean to make the kid cry, but Gen sure had a set of lungs on him. Stan hoped the rest of the day went by with no more issues or at least him not being the reason the toddler cried again.

He is almost done with his cigarette when he hears a door near him open. He thinks it might be Xeno and turns around slightly to see. It's not however and instead it's the door next to Xeno's that opens. A young woman steps out and her eyes widen when she sees him. 

"Hello. Wasn't expecting to see anyone out this early. Are you new?" She curiously asks looking him up and down. 

Stan sighs, putting his cigarette out. Great. A girl he has to avoid, while staying at Xeno's. He mentally reminds himself to grab cardboard at the store to make that "not interested" sign to wear around himself when he's not inside the home.

"I'm staying at Xeno's." Stan says, pointing at his door.

"Oh, are you two together?"

Stan hesitates. If he tells her yes maybe she would leave him alone… but then she would think they are dating and might tell Xeno.

"Yeah we are."

Stan decides it wouldn't hurt to lie. It would prevent her from showing interest in him and if she did tell Xeno, then he could just tell his friend he did it to get her off his back. He doesn't think Xeno would mind.

"I knew he had a kid but didn't know he had a partner."

"I'm in the military and was overseas. I just got back."

"Wow. Thank you for your service!"

"Yeah thanks."

She tells him goodbye and then finally leaves him alone. Stan debates if he should pull out another cigarette to smoke but decides not to and instead goes back inside the apartment. 

When he gets back inside, he notices that Xeno and Gen are still not out of the room. Stan makes his way to the kitchen and decides to see if Xeno had anything edible to make for breakfast.

"What am I supposed to make with 2 eggs, half a gallon of milk, and leftover Chinese food Xeno." Stan mumbles, staring into Xeno's almost empty fridge. 

He closes the fridge and decides to look through the pantry and cabinets to investigate what they might need to get at the store. As he searches, he wonders how Xeno managed to survive and keep the kid alive without the two of them starving to death. His cabinets are just as empty as his fridge and whatever food was in them was junk food.

Stan pulls out a bag of flour and is debating if it's safe to use since it's expired by a month. He figures with what Xeno has in his fridge he might be able to make pancakes. They might not taste great with the limited ingredients and expired flour, but food was food. 

He's searching the cabinets for a bowl to mix everything in when he hears Xeno's voice outside in the living room. 

"You have to be good today Gen at the store." Xeno says walking into the kitchen with Gen in his arms.

"Hey where do you keep your bowls?" Stan asks as Xeno walks in. 

"There above the microwave." 

Stan nods and reaches over to open the cabinet and grab the white mixing bowl from it. When he turns around, he sees Xeno placing Gen on the floor where a toy mat was with building blocks next to the fridge.

"Stay here Gen okay. If you leave the kitchen, I'll put you in the high chair." Xeno warns.

"How did you manage not starve to death with only 2 eggs, half a gallon of milk, and leftover Chinese food in the fridge." Stan teases.

"I told you I was due to get groceries! There is food in it once I go shopping. Did you not look in the freezer? There's food in there too!" Xeno huffs, coming over to see what Stan was making.

"The only thing you had in the freezer was popsicles, half a box of chicken nuggets, an empty eggo box, and a bag of frozen carrots." 

"It's still food!"

"Sure Xeno. I'm sure you could make a decent healthy meal out of those options." Stan chuckles.

"What are you making then?" Xeno asks, curiously watching him pour flour into the bowl.

"Pancakes. I can't promise they'll be good because you only left me 2 eggs, milk, and expired flour to work with." 

"Gen will love them either way. Pancakes are his favorite." 

"Are they?"

"Yes. I hope you're ready to eat them almost every morning." 

"Well once we get some more ingredients, I can make them better for you two." Stan says, walking over to the fridge to grab the eggs and milk.

Gen was on the ground playing with his blocks but looks up when they approached near the fridge. Stan glances down at him and then reaches to open the fridge. He has it open about halfway before Gen crawls over and tries to shut it on him.

"My idge." The toddler says, glaring up at him.

"Gen that is not your fridge! I pay the bills so it's mine. Stan can open it whenever he wants to." Xeno scolds, bending down to move his nephew out of the way.

"No!" Gen exclaims as Xeno moves him away, so he doesn't get hit with the fridge door.

Stan quickly grabs the two ingredients out of the fridge and closes the door shut. He realized yesterday from the laptop incident that the toddler didn't enjoy him touching things around the house that he considered his or Xeno's stuff. 

He wasn't sure if it was a jealously thing or if he felt genuinely unnerved by a stranger messing with things around their home. Either way it seemed Gen was going to keep up with guarding things around the house from him and not allow him to touch certain stuff.

"Stan is making us a homemade breakfast, so we are going to be nice to him today to thank him." Xeno tells Gen before handing him a block from his mat.

Stan puts the milk and eggs into the bowl along with the flour before using a wooden spoon to mix the batter. As a kid he had to fend for himself food wise when he lived with his mom. Because of that he learned how to make meals with whatever limited ingredients where available that he could salvage in the kitchen. 

This easy pancake recipe was actually one that an older woman, across from one of the worn down apartments they lived at one time, taught him how to make. Stan recalls that her name was maybe Mrs. Rose, but it's been years that he could hardly remember. All he knows is that he owes that older woman so much because she would often invite him over to her home as a kid and taught him how to cook efficiently to survive.

"Can you tell me how you're making them?" Xeno asks, watching him mix the batter.

"I'll show you how to make them once we have more and better ingredients. These aren't going to taste like anything."

"Wait I think I have chocolate chips around here. Can we add those?"

"Sure, if you can find them, we can add them."

Xeno opens the pantry and brings over the chocolate chip bag to dump them into the bowl. Once Stan's done with the batter, he pulls out a pan to pour the mix into it to cook the pancakes. 

"Pancakes?" Gen asks, hugging Xeno's leg and looking up at him with big puppy dog eyes

"Yes, they're almost done. What did I say about leaving the mat?" Xeno says, holding a plate out for Stan to deposit the cooked pancakes onto. 

Gen pouts but he lets go of his leg and moves back so Xeno can bring the plates to the table. 

Once everything is done and, on the table, Xeno picks Gen up to put him in his highchair. Stan brings over the rest of the food to the table and sets it down before sitting in the chair. He watches Xeno put one of the fluffy hotcakes onto a plate and start to cut it up into tiny pieces.

"Pancakes! Pancakes! Pancakes!" Gen happily cheers as he watches Xeno cut his food.

Xeno wasn't joking about the kid liking pancakes. Stan's never met someone so enthusiastic to be eating them this early in the morning. It makes him chuckle as Gen stretches his arms out and tries to reach for the plate.

"Gimmie!" 

"Hold on Gen. I have to cut it first."

"No cut."

"Yes cut. We can't have you choking on it. It's been years since I've taken a CPR class." Xeno sighs.

"I know CPR." Stan says.

"You do?"

"Yeah. It's mandatory to graduate basic training." 

"Have you had to use it overseas?" Xeno curiously asks.

"Hmm not on a human."

"What?"

"One time we were stationed near a desert and a choking gazelle galloped into our base."

"Please tell me you didn't perform CPR on the gazelle." Xeno interrupts in disbelief.

"No one else wanted to do it and they're endangered animals overseas Xeno. You wanted me to let the poor thing just choke to death?"

"That's unsanitary." Xeno frowns.

"Yeah well what if that was one of the last gazelles in that desert? You think I could live with myself if they went extinct when I could have just done CPR on it to save its species?"

"I'm sure they are captive-breeding that species of gazelle to increase their numbers to then release them back into the wild eventually. You didn't have to go through the trouble."

"Wow that's so cold hearted Xeno. Letting a poor gazelle die because you think it's gross to give it mouth to mouth."

Xeno shakes his head with a scowl on his face that makes Stan burst out laughing. Xeno could be so gullible at times. It was cute.

"I'm joking." Stan finally admits.

"What? Why did you lie?" Xeno pouts.

"Well it wasn't all a lie. A choking gazelle did come onto our base, but it just threw up what it was gagging on the grass and then took off running." 

Xeno glares at him and Stan can't help the shit eating grin on his face. It was fun to tease his friend and he knew that Xeno knew it was just all in good fun. It wasn't the first time he told an elaborate lie and it wouldn't be the last but Xeno still continued to fall for them.

"Pancakes!" Gen shouts upset that his guardian was ignoring him.

"Yes, I'm almost done." Xeno says, turning his gaze to his nephew instead.

"I really do know CPR, so if anything happens, I can step in." Stan says.

"Great. If we get any choking gazelles galloping through the apartment complex, I'll make sure to tell you so you can save it's species from extinction and be the hero you oh so want to be."

Stan chuckles at that and Xeno grins. He watches Xeno cut up the last piece of pancake and then place the plate on Gen's highchair. 

"If you do not eat with the fork and choose to eat with your hands instead, then we will not eat pancakes again for a whole month." Xeno warns, handing the toddler a children's fork.

"Kay." Gen responds, grabbing the utensil.

Stan cuts up a piece of his own pancake and brings it up to his mouth to take a bite. He grimaces at how flavorless it is. As a kid he used to be fine with how dull these tasted because he was starving, but now that he's an adult he wonders how he was able to swallow these down with no problems.

"It's not bad." Xeno says, after taking a bite out of his pancake.

"They're not good. You don't have to lie to please me."

"Yummy!" Gen exclaims, stuffing more into his mouth.

"See he thinks they're delicious, so they can't be that bad." 

"He's a kid. They'll eat anything because they don't know better."

"That's not true. Infants start off with 30,000 taste receptors in their mouth and this number slowly decreases as they get older. So, in a sense children are super tasters and eating can be an intense experience for them." 

"So, are you trying to say his opinion is better than ours because he has more taste buds?"

"Yes! So, if he enjoys them, then they're excellent. I read in a book that there is a theory that we are born with synesthesia, which is when our senses are intermingled, but we outgrow it as we age."

"A kid's senses are all mixed up or something?"

"Precisely! It basically means very young children are tasting food in 3D in their first few years of life. Isn't that fascinating?" Xeno exclaims.

"That's cool Xeno. What book did you learn this from?" Stan asks. 

"I've been reading a bunch of early childhood development books lately."

"Oh yeah? Any good information from them?" 

Xeno grins widely at him before diving straight into any beneficial and interesting information he learned from reading the books. Stan mostly asked because he knew Xeno loved to explain things to anyone who would listen. But he also enjoyed listening to his friend's voice and watching his facial expressions as he excitedly spilled facts to him. 

It was a win-win situation for both of them if you asked Stan. Now that he was living with a toddler, he thought it would be best to learn a few things about how kids functioned this young. It was a perfect opportunity to learn some things from Xeno.

Or at least he thought it was a good opportunity until he realized that Xeno was going to explain Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development in great detail to him this early in the morning. Thankfully Stan had practice in extreme attentiveness from being a sniper, that he was able to attempt to pay attention to Xeno's long explanation on the stages. 

Stan believes that his friend was just starting to explain the preoperational stage when suddenly he's interrupted by a loud clang. They both stare at Gen who was looking down at the ground where he dropped his fork."

"I drop." Gen giggles.

"We don't drop forks on the ground when we are done eating Gen." Xeno sighs, bending down to pick it up.

"No done." Gen says, pointing down at the food still on his plate.

"We don't drop forks on the ground even when we are not done eating." Xeno corrects himself.

Stan watches the other man get up and walk to the sink to rinse the utensil off. He turns his attention to Gen to see the toddler opening and closing his little fist while he stared down at his food with a scowl on his face. Stan guesses that he is thinking intensely about Xeno's words from earlier about eating with his hands and is mulling it over in his tiny head. 

He wonders if he should remind the kid about those words but doesn't get the chance to before Gen just plops his face down into the plate of food. The toddler comes back up with syrup and food bits stuck on his mouth and face, munching happily on the pancakes.

Stan has to stop himself from laughing at the sight. He gives the kid credit for coming up with a solution to eat his food that wasn't with his hands. But it left him a dirty sticky mess that Xeno was not going to be happy with.

"Uh Xeno."

"What's wrong Stan?" Xeno asks, from where he was rinsing the fork in the sink.

"You might want to wet a rag or some napkins and bring that over too." 

"What happened!" Xeno exclaims, coming over to see the scene.

Xeno walks into Gen dipping his face back into the plate of food a second time while Stan watches his reaction. 

"Gen! We do not eat like that!"

Xeno rushes forward to take the plate away from the toddler to stop him from continuing. The kid just giggles and then stops when he realizes that his guardian took his food away.

"Mine." Gen whines, reaching up with his hands for the plate. 

"No. We have to clean you up first."

Stan offers Xeno help, but his friend just turns him down saying he's got it. So, he watches in silence from his chair as Xeno scolds and cleans Gen up. Once he's done, he gives the toddler back his plate, hands him the fork, and tells him that was not acceptable eating behavior.

"Sorry. I'm trying to teach him how to eat right, but he's still having trouble learning and understanding how to do it properly." Xeno sighs.

"It's fine. At least he didn't eat with his hands. That's a start."

"I suppose you're right."

They finish their breakfast with Xeno explaining to him the articles he's read on how to break Gen's eating with his hand’s behavior. Once done Stan helps Xeno clean up the kitchen while the toddler is down on his play mat on the ground.

"I asked him how he got out of his crib." Xeno mentions, while rinsing a plate.

"What did he say?" Stan curiously asks.

"He told me he doesn't remember doing it." Xeno sighs.

"Did he sleepwalk out of his crib and onto the bed?" 

"I'm certain that he's lying to me and just didn't want to tell me.

"He could have levitated out of it."

"Are you implying that he has secret powers that I don't know about?" 

"He could have powers but not tell you."

"That's ridiculous Stan. I would have known if he did or not already." Xeno grins slightly.

"I'm just throwing it out there Xeno. Don't want you to be surprised if the X-men come knocking on your door is all. " Stan chuckles.

Xeno hands him the last plate and he dries it off before putting it back in the cabinet. They finish and he watches Xeno grab his phone from the counter.

"I have to see if I can make the bars of his crib higher. That way he can't escape at night."

Stan amusingly laughs at the image his brain produces from Xeno's words. He's imaging  
the baby dressed up in an orange prison suit with his hands shaking the bars of the crib demanding they let him out.

"What's so funny?" Xeno asks looking up at him curiously.

"Baby jail."

"What?"

"You're imprisoning him like a criminal for escaping the first time around."

"Yes. I don't want him falling out of the crib or hurting himself in the dark, so I will imprison him in it if I have too."

"He could have night time vision. That could be how he was able to get from the crib to the bed."

Xeno giggles cutely at his comment and the sound brings a grin to Stan's face. They finish up in the kitchen before getting ready to go to the store to get groceries. Stan was pretty much ready to go so he waits on the couch for Xeno to get Gen and himself ready. 

"No shoes." Gen glares.

"People wear shoes when they go out Gen. They have to stay on." Xeno warns, as he puts them on his feet.

The toddler pouts but let's his guardian finish up. Xeno picks Gen up off the couch and then swings on a grey backpack before grabbing his keys.

"Okay we're ready to go." Xeno announces.

Stan gets up and follows him outside the door. He watches the other man lock up the apartment before they head out for the black car downstairs. 

The car ride to the store wasn't far from the house. Xeno parks and Stan grabs a nearby shopping cart as his friend takes his nephew out of the vehicle. He wheels the cart towards him and Xeno places Gen into the seat of the cart.

"No." Gen mumbles.

"You have to stay in that seat the whole trip." Xeno says, wheeling the cart into the store.

Gen kicks his legs out and Stan watches Xeno scoot back before they hit him. The other man glares at the toddler who smiles innocently at him.

"No kicking Gen."

Stan grabs an ad from the front of the store and opens it up to show Xeno. He points to some vegetables and looks up when he sees Gen's little hands trying to push the paper down so he can see it too.

"Do you have any certain vegetables in mind that you want to get?" Stan asks, as they make their way to the area where the fruits and vegetables were at.

"Gen will only eat carrots so that's usually what I get."

"So, he's picky too. Great."

"I'm not picky." Xeno frowns.

"Uh huh. I always beg you to try different things, but you want to know what's in them first and if it's anything you don't like you refuse to eat it."

"I don't want to not like it! If it has something, I don't enjoy why should I eat it?"

"See you're picky. How do you know if you will like it or not if you don't give it a chance."

"I do try different things."

"Sure Xeno. I'm still mad about that one time we went to that popular Filipino restaurant and you wouldn't split that one chicken dish with me."

"That's because it was loaded with bell peppers and I didn't want to pick them out!"

"How am I supposed to make us food if you won't eat what I make? I refuse to cook plain flavorless food every day." 

"Who says I won't eat it? Just don't put anything disgusting in it and there won't be issues." Xeno huffs.

"Fine then I won't tell you what's in it. It'll be a surprise and you will just have to eat what I make or starve." Stan smirks.

"How would that work if I want you to teach me how to cook? I desperately need the lessons." 

"Come on Xeno. Your cooking isn't that bad."

Xeno stops the cart near some apples and turns to leer at him. Stan stands still wondering what he said that caused that expression to be directed his way.

"Don't lie. You know it is." 

"I'm not lying."

"Name one time I made something appetizing or edible."

Stan hesitates. He tries to think of a time when they were younger when Xeno cooked anything that came out okay. As kids Xeno's sister often cooked the meals and Stan can't really recall an incident when his friend made something by himself.

"That one time you made brownies."

"I've only made brownies once and I almost burnt the whole apartment complex down. I know you remember you were there." Xeno glares.

Ah. Yeah Stan remembers now. When they were younger the school, they attended would often hold bake sales to raise money for field trips. That year they were trying to raise cash to have their school trip at a waterpark and every kid was required to bring a baked good to sale. They encouraged people to make the sweets, but most of the time parents just bought a pack of desserts from the store.

Unfortunately, Xeno and him didn't have the privilege of being able to afford to buy store bought goods, so they were planning to make their own baked goods together. That day Stan had been running late because of his mom holding him hostage by forcing him to attend her NA meeting with him. He had called Xeno from a phone at the place the sobriety meeting was being held and told his friend he would be late. Xeno had responded by saying he was going to start without him then because it was getting late and the bake sale was tomorrow. 

Stan remembers the agony of sitting through that meeting and hearing all those supposedly sober people tell their sad sob stories to the group. He despised those meetings with a passion because Stan had to listen to his mom lie about being sober even though he knew she wasn't and was only attending the meetings so she could have custody of him. 

After that painfully slow meeting was over Stan had practically ran to Xeno's house and knocked frantically on the door. Xeno had answered and let him in. He remembers walking into the kitchen and seeing the brownie pan in the oven already cooking. Xeno had told him he followed the instructions on the box, and it wasn't hard to make. 

They had retreated to the living room after that and were watching Star Wars while the brownies baked. Stan recalls them debating whether Star Wars or Lord of the Rings was better when they suddenly smelt a burning smell. They had both rushed to the kitchen to see smoke coming from the oven. Those next 10 minutes were full blown panic and chaos.

Stan remembers Xeno rushing forward to open the oven and them seeing the parchment paper that he had used had caught on fire. Stan had rushed to the sink and filled a cup up with water before coming over to throw it on the fire which had just resulted in it growing and becoming worse. He recalled that Xeno had yelled at him to help him find baking soda to put it out. 

Unfortunately, by the time they found the baking soda and put out the fire the fire alarm had gone off and the neighbors had called the fire department. The brownies were burnt to a crisp and they both had to awkwardly explain to the first responders when they got there what happened. Stan is quite surprised he didn't remember this story right away because when Zinnia got the call and came home, she was furious.

"Yeah I remember. The parchment paper you used caught on fire." Stan finally tells him.

"It was a mistake. I didn't realize at the time I had stuck the paper out the pan too much which resulted in it touching the heating rod on the top of the stove and catching fire."

"Zinnia was pissed about that one. I couldn't come over for weeks after."

"I don't blame her. She had to explain to law enforcement why she left two young children at home by themselves and let them use the oven without supervision. I'm sure she was worried that they would have seen her as an unfit guardian to care for me and take me away from her."

"Yeah your right. I guess as kids we didn't see that because all I remember is throwing rocks at your window and begging you to sneak out to play with me." Stan chuckles.

"I worry about that happening with Gen at times." Xeno sighs, looking over at his nephew who was trying to reach over for an apple with his tiny arms. 

"You mean him burning down the house baking brownies? I hate to break it to you Xeno but he's like 2 feet tall, there's no way he's reaching those handles to open the oven."

"Very funny Stan." Xeno says rolling his eyes.

"Okay I'm being serious now, why do you believe that?" Stan asks.

Xeno hesitates to answer and Stan is hoping he doesn't change his mind about telling him. It was hard to get his friend to open up at times and tell him his struggles because Xeno hated feeling like a burden and troubling people with his problems. It frustrated Stan extremely that Xeno chose to keep his feelings and thoughts closed up from him even though they were best friends. He was about to give up and change the subject but then Xeno answers him.

"I just worry that I'll mess up badly and they'll take Gen away from me too. I have no idea what I'm doing half the time and it's so overwhelming. I don't want to disappoint my sister and besides you, Gen is the only family I have left." Xeno hesitantly tells him.

That was a lot to take in. Stan mulls over quickly what to say when he notices Xeno's hand gripping the shopping carts handle tightly. He reaches over and delicately places his hand on top of his. Stan knew it was a brave move doing this, but it felt right at the movement and he wasn't going to dwell on it. That causes Xeno to turn his attention towards him and his dark grey eyes stare directly into his blue ones.

"Xeno. You've managed to keep him alive and look after him well for over 6 months now all by yourself. I know it might seem like a lot and not every day is great, but you've been doing fine so far. Your sister had to raise you all by herself and I'm sure she had no damn idea what she was doing either, and they never took you away from her." Stan says, 

"I know. It's just hard at times because Gen is such a handful."

"Yeah I've noticed. I wonder how Zinnia dealt with him by herself." 

"She had experience already under her belt from taking care of me. I'm sure she took care of Gen better than I ever will." Xeno sighs.

"True but you don't have to worry and stress about that by yourself anymore because I'm here now. I might not have any experience in raising kids, but I'll try my best to help you in any way I can."

"Stan you don't have to-"

"I don't want to hear it, Xeno. Nothing you say will stop me from helping you." Stan declares, tightening his grip on Xeno's hand.

"Stan I-" 

"I'm sorry to interrupt the conversation dears, but may I please get by?"

They both frantically turn their heads to see an elderly woman behind them who was blocked from getting through the aisle by their cart. Stan realizes that a busy supermarket in the middle of the fruit aisle was not the best time and place for them to be having a deep heartfelt conversation like this. He mentally curses at himself, wondering just how loud they were, as he moves out of her way.

They watch as the older woman squeezes by but then she stops when she notices Gen who had managed to grab an apple and was now squeezing it in between his two small hands.

"Oh, my what a cute little boy you two have!" She cooes.

The toddler ignores her and instead brings the red apple up to his mouth to try to bite it. 

"Gen no!" Xeno exclaims, reaching over with his free hand to grab it from him.

"Thanks." Stan replied for them.

"I see you two have your hands full. Good luck!" She laughs before leaving the aisle.

Stan looks down at his hand on top of Xeno's still and figures that's why she thought Gen was their kid. As much as he enjoyed the implication of them coming off as a couple and his hand on top of Xeno's, he pulls his hand away. Xeno was fighting with the toddler for the apple and he watches the other man now use his free hand to yank the piece of fruit from him.

"Look at this huge mess you made!" Xeno scowls, staring down at the ground. 

It seems in Gen's quest to grab the red fruit, he managed to knock over a bunch of apples in the process onto the ground. Xeno quickly bends down to pick them and Stan reaches down to help him. 

After they clean up the mess, they finish grabbing all the groceries they need. Stan thought of a list of meals that were easy to make that he could teach Xeno and was gathering those ingredients along the way. 

"I don't like olives." Xeno says, eyeing the jar Stan puts into the basket.

"Too bad. I'm not telling you what they're being used for anyway. So, you don't have to worry about them."

Xeno sends him a glowering gaze before reaching over for a can off the shelf. He accidently knocks the one next to it over and bends down to pick it up.

"Gen where is your right shoe." 

The toddler giggles and wiggles his toed socks. Stan looks around and doesn't see any small shoes lying around, so the kid must have dropped it somewhere along the way.

"Now we have to retrace our steps and see if we can find it." Xeno says.

"We haven't walked far so it should be easy to find." Stan tells him.

"Hopefully. We got through so many pairs and shoes are expensive." 

"Do you lose them often?" 

"Yes. Gen despises shoes with a passion. I've tried putting him in every type of shoe out there. Shoelaces, Velcro, and Slip-ons but nothing works. It's very frustrating." Xeno scowls, rubbing his temples.

"Have you tried super glue?"

"Stan!" 

"I'm joking. How is he getting out of them? He can't even bend down to slip them off."

"I have no clue. He's become a pro at somehow managing to slide them off his feet."

"Like I said you're raising the next Houdini." Stan teases.

They retrace their steps and try to search for the missing shoe. As they search high and low, Xeno tells him the many stories of how the toddler's shoes have gone missing. 

"One time I spent three whole days looking for a shoe. I swore I searched that whole house top and bottom over ten times and couldn't find it anywhere. So, I gave up and brought a new pair." Xeno tells.

"Let me guess you found it in a weird place like the fridge." 

"I wish! At least then I wouldn't have felt so upset over where I found it. The day after I bought the new pair of shoes, I had dropped my phone on the ground and bent down over the bed to reach for it and lo and behold there was the missing shoe under the bed."

"You must have just overlooked them when you looked under there." Stan smirks, knowing that will just rile Xeno up.

"I looked under the bed numerous times! There's no way I would have missed it being under there. I'm certain that Gen was hiding it to mock me and placed it there himself to spite me."

"Uh he's two, right? You think a two-year-old is purposely messing with yah?"

"Yes! That was not the first time he's hid his shoes from me. I've found shoes under the sink, in the bathtub, behind the curtains, and other bizarre places. He does it on purpose to get under my skin. I know he does."

Stan can't help but be amused at how worked up Xeno was about this. He knew Gen was a handful, but it was hard to imagine the little toddler purposely hiding and placing shoes in spaces around the apartment.

"Okie." Gen says, pointing towards a pack of cookies on the shelf.

"You lost your shoe, so no cookies for you." Xeno says, pushing the cart away.

That makes the baby mad and he starts to try to pry Xeno's hands off the basket handle.

"Shoe bad."

"I don't think we'll find it Stan." Xeno sighs, ignoring the toddler throwing a fit.

"Yeah maybe someone picked it up."

"They could have but it's fine. I have an extra pair in the backpack." Xeno says.

"You brought an extra pair?"

"Of course, I did. I told you this is a common occurrence, so I've come prepared now."

Stan watches Xeno take off Gen's left shoe before stuffing it into the grey backpack. He tells him that there's no point in him putting on the new pair since he'll just lose those too. They continue, grabbing the remaining groceries they need. 

The basket was getting fuller as they approached the last aisle. They keep arguing over what Stan puts into the basket until Xeno annoyed finally gives up and tells him that he's just going to let him do the rest of the shopping by himself. Stan was fine with that and things went faster now that he didn't have Xeno hovering near him complaining about what he was putting into the cart.

"I have to get a phone and laptop." Stan tells Xeno after he puts the last food item in the cart that they need. 

"Okay. I believe that's on the other side of the store."

"You don't have to come with me if you don't want to. I can meet you in the front once I'm done."

"No, we can go with you. I don't need anything else and it's easier to stay in one place with Gen."

Xeno follows him to the electronics section and Stan quickly gets what he needs. He grabs the first decent laptop he sees and then finds a worker to help him with the phone. It takes some time but soon he's set up with a cell phone provider and has a brand-new phone in his hand.

"We should hurry since we have cold items." Xeno says.

Stan follows after Xeno as they make their way to the front to check out. They pass by an area that has numerous different types of flowers arranged in pots in rows.

"Pick." Gen says, pointing to some purple asters. 

"What was that?" Xeno asks his nephew. 

"Thing." Gen says, squirming in his seat.

"You didn't sleep in your crib last night, so that deal is off." 

Those were the wrong words to say because Gen starts sobbing and Stan stares wide eyed as the toddler starts to try to stand up in the cart seat.

"Sit down! You cannot stand up like that, it's dangerous." Xeno begs.

"No!" 

Yeah Stan had no idea how to handle tantrums like this. He watches Xeno struggle to make Gen sit down back in his seat and get him to stop crying. People pass them up and stare which makes Stan feel uneasy. 

"I'm sorry." Xeno mumbles when he sees Stan's expression.

"It's okay."

Gen plops down into the cart seat and starts to rub his tear stained eyes. He wasn't trying to stand up anymore, but he was still loud. 

"Flower." Gen sobs.

Stan looks at the purple flowers that the toddler was pointing at earlier. Is that what he wanted? As Xeno tries to calm down the toddler, Stan walks over to pick up the pot. He brings it over to the cart and both of them turn to look at him.

"Stan what are you doing?" Xeno asks.

"I want to get these flowers." Stan says, placing the pot besides Gen.

"Why?"

"I think they would look nice in your place."

"What-" Xeno starts.

"Momma."

They both turn and see Gen sniffling trying to hug the flowerpot. 

"I don't think…"

Stan turns his attention from Gen to Xeno. His friend was frozen in place staring at his nephew hugging the flowerpot. Stan himself felt heavy hearted from seeing the scene in front of him, so he can't imagine what emotions must be overtaking Xeno right now.

Before Zinnia passed away, she worked at a flower shop for quite some time. She loved her job and those last few years in high school, Stan remembers she used to grow and decorate her whole home with a variety of different plants. 

Stan recalls that purple asters were her favorite and if the toddler recognized them, he's sure she kept that tradition up of decorating her home even after Gen was born. The baffled expression on Xeno's face makes Stan feel slightly guilty for bringing up any old memories or emotions that might be overtaking him. But he wasn't expecting Gen would associate purple flowers with his mother. 

"Xeno. You okay?" 

Stan places his hand lightly on Xeno's shoulder. The other man doesn't reply right away, and it worries him.

"I'm… fine Stan." Xeno finally replies, tearing his gaze away from Gen to stare up at him.

"I can put it back."

"No, it's okay… She really used to love those you know." 

"Yeah I remember. She had them all over ya'lls place."

"She grew them all too. Her home was overly decorated with them, but it was elegant. I admired how much work and dedication she put into growing and caring for all her plants."

"It was like walking into a mini flower shop. I remember she used to complain about not having enough space to grow even more." Stan chuckles.

"You know she wanted to open up her own flower shop one day."

"She did?"

"Yeah. She was saving up for it and had her own plant business on the side to make extra cash to save."

"I didn't know that."

"It was after Gen was born. She used to force me to come home on the weekends and help her make flower arrangements during holiday rush times." 

"You sitting down and making flower arrangements? Now that's something I need to see." Stan teases. 

Xeno rolls his eyes at him before coming closer to the cart. Stan watches him wipe the tears from Gen's cheeks and soothingly run his fingers through the toddler's hair.

"We can buy the flowerpot." He tells his nephew.

Gen sniffles but let's go of the pot. The toddler then wraps his arms around Xeno's arm and rubs his face into it. Xeno shhs him but pats his head. It was a heartfelt scene and Stan's glad that the situation ended on a happy note.

They leave the area with the flowers and finally make their way to the front of the store to checkout. They decide to go through self-checkout and scan the items together. Stan knew that the hardest part about this grocery trip was convincing Xeno to let him pay for everything. He knew the other man would insist in him paying for it all and Stan wasn't planning on letting him.

"I can pay for it Stan."

There it was. Stan scans the last item before placing it in a bag. He then pulls out his credit card and quickly tries to slide it into the machine. 

"Hey! I said I would pay for it." Xeno exclaims, rushing forward to try to grab his hand. 

"Let go Xeno. I'm staying at your house. I'm buying." Stan says, trying to shake Xeno's hold on him.

"Nonsense. You're a guest. Let me get it."

Stan glares at him as Xeno comes closer to reach for his card. Why did he have to make things so difficult and not let him pay for their groceries? Stan gets distracted when he hears the checkout machine go off, asking if they need more time. That causes Xeno to get the upper hand and grab the card from his hand. 

He wasn't about to let Xeno get away with that, so Stan quickly grabs his arm and brings him forward closer to him. It was at that moment he realized how stupid that was because now Xeno was really in his personal space and they were almost nose to nose. He can feel Xeno's hot breath against his face and he hopes desperately that the other man can't hear how fast his heart is beating. 

"Xeno. If you do not let me pay for this, I will sleep under a bridge tonight. Don't think I won't, I never go back on my word."

Xeno stares intensely into his blue eyes and Stan almost thinks that he's going to end up having to sleep under a bridge. But then his friend sighs and leers angrily at him.

"Fine. But only because I don't want you sleeping on the streets. I can't believe you would resort to that just to pay!" Xeno pouts.

Stan would do it again if he had too. Xeno was as stubborn as a bull and he knew this wouldn't be the last time he would fight him on paying for things. He let's go of Xeno's arm and turns his head slightly to see pairs of eyes staring at them.

Great. How many scenes were they planning to cause in a single shopping trip? He hoped no more because he didn't enjoy the lingering gazes from strangers. Xeno crosses his arms with a scowl on his face as Stan pays for the groceries. 

"This is the only time you're paying. Don't pull that sleeping under a bridge tactic on me again!"

"It would be easier if you just let me buy you things without fighting me on it." Stan says, grabbing the receipt.

They finally leave the store with no more incidents happening. They pack the car with the grocery bags before driving away. On the drive home, they decided to pick up lunch along the way and make dinner together tonight. There was a sandwich place nearby that they picked up lunch at before going back to the apartment.

Once they arrive back to the apartment complex, Stan helps Xeno take all the grocery bags upstairs. They unpack and neatly place all the groceries into their designated areas together.

"This looks better. Now you don't look like you are living off takeout and frozen dinners." Stan says, admiring the full pantry and fridge.

"I told you that we were just due for groceries. We don't eat like that all the time." Xeno glares.

They eat their sandwiches at the table and clean up afterwards. Xeno told Stan he had some class work to finish so they could be out all day tomorrow. Stan told him that was fine and was planning to figure out how to set up the laptop while Xeno worked. 

That's how they ended up sitting on the living room couch together with both their laptops out. Gen was watching some Disney movie, that Stan didn't know the name of, while coloring on a coloring book. He fumbles with the setup instructions on the laptop not quite sure if he was doing it right. While he was overseas, he missed out on a lot of the newest technological advances and felt overwhelmed at times messing with certain technology.

"You know its touch screen, right?" Xeno asks, watching him struggle with the touchpad.

"What?"

"I can show you." 

Xeno places his laptop on the side of the couch, so he can crawl over to show Stan the touchscreen on the laptop. Stan stiffens when Xeno gets close to him. His light blonde hair brushes against his nose lightly as he leans over him and Stan can't help but admire how nice he smelt. He wonders what shampoo he used because it smelled clean with a slight hint of vanilla. 

Stan has always loved the color of Xeno's hair, and he wonders if it's as soft as it looked. He has to mentally stop himself from reaching over and gently run his fingers through the blonde locks to find out.

"See look." 

Stan snaps out of his daydream and turns his attention to Xeno who was moving the mouse on screen with his finger.

"You can use your fingertips to zoom in and out too." 

"Cool." 

"Yes. I think it has Siri built into it too and lots of other neat features."

"Yeah I'm only using it to browse online. Everything else is too complicated." 

"You sound like an old person. Do you need me to buy you a cane next time we go to the store?" Xeno teases.

"Can it Xeno. I've barely interacted with technology in 6 years. A lot has changed since then."

"I guess you're right. Well if you need help with anything just ask!"

The rest of the evening goes by fast. After a while Stan got bored and exhausted messing with the laptop. He tried to watch the movie Gen had on, but he kept getting distracted by Xeno. He would occasionally glance his way to watch him work.

His friend was sitting with his knees close to his chest with the laptop placed on his stomach. Xeno often stuck his tongue out when he was deep in concentration and Stan found it cute. Occasionally Xeno would catch his gaze and smile at him before asking if he needed anything.

The moment was so normal and domestic. It's been a long time since he's felt this relaxed and as much as he liked the hectic lifestyle overseas, it felt nice to go slow and enjoy the moment. 

"Hungry." Gen whines, trying to get on the couch near Xeno.

"Okay. Let me save this." Xeno says, looking up from his laptop.

"Pizza."

"No, we had pizza yesterday. Are you ready to make something Stan?"

"Yeah we can."

Xeno finishes up what he was working on before they move to the kitchen. Stan starts to take out all the ingredients for the meal he had planned to make tonight. Xeno hovered behind him watching his every movement like a hawk. Stan guesses he was trying to figure out what was for dinner tonight. He chuckles when he sees Xeno pick up a tomato sauce can and inspect it more closely. 

"Spaghetti?" He questions, placing it back down.

"Nope. You only have two guesses left or you will have to wait to find out what it is after it's done."

Xeno pouts cutely at his response and he grins. He brings out a pan and watches Xeno's eyes gaze over the ingredients again.

"Pasta."

"One try left. You have to say the actual name of the dish."

"Come on Stan! There's so many different pasta dishes out there with these same ingredients."

"It's one of your favorites." 

"Lasagna. Why didn't you say that in the beginning?"

"That would have given it away. It's easy enough and I thought you might want to remake it right this time."

"I don't know if I should be offended or not by that."

Stan turns to see Xeno glaring at him. Ah yeah, he could have probably worded that better. One time for their world history class in high school, for a project they all had to draw country names out of a hat and then make a dish from the country they had got. Stan pulled out Mexico and made some delicious Empanadas for his food project. He had gotten great praise for his flavors and the class had voted his entree as the best one out of the class. 

Xeno had gotten Italy and had decided he was going to make Lasagna. Stan recalls Xeno being thrilled he had pulled Italy because Italian food was his favorite type of food and Lasagna was his favorite meal. Stan had offered to help him, but the other boy said that he wanted to do it by himself.

The only nice word Stan could use to describe the meal was interesting. It looked like your typical Lasagna dish, but the taste was far from it. Stan remembers putting a bite into his mouth and then having to bring a hand up to cover his mouth so he wouldn't spit it out. He still has no idea how the hell to this day to describe how that lasagna tasted. It definitely didn't taste anything like how it was supposed to. 

Stan still feels guilty about not trying Xeno's dish beforehand. He was planning to, but Xeno seemed determined not to have outside help. Most of the kids in their class had just put Xeno's dish to the side after the first bite and didn't comment on it. There were a few however that tried to make snide comments, but Stan made sure to give them all a deadly stare that dare them to talk shit about his best friend's dish. He believes that was probably the worst grade his friend had ever gotten in his life for a project. 

He was hoping Xeno wouldn't think he was referring to that time. But he caught on and now he wishes he would have chosen something else for their meal.

"Look Xeno. I didn't mean it like that."

"That day was so humiliating! I have no idea how the dish came out so disgusting."

"It wasn't too bad."

"Do not lie. Everyone spit it out and I got a horrible grade." Xeno huffs, glaring at him.

"Hey. I never did apologize for not helping you that day."

"It's not your fault Stan. I wanted to do it myself."

"I can help you now. We can make it together and I promise it will come out great." 

Xeno grins at him before handing him the olive oil. Stan gets to work prepping the meal and instructs Xeno on what to do. They joked and talked as they made dinner together. He enjoyed watching Xeno maneuver himself around the kitchen with him as they prepared the meal.

"Can you add that white wine vinegar to the sauce?" Stan asks, busy chopping garlic.

"How much do I add?"

"Just add a little bit."

"A tablespoon or teaspoon?"

"I don't measure, just sprinkle some into the pot."

"Stan."

"What is it Xeno?" Stan says, stopping what he was doing to look at him.

"How do you not measure? How do you know if you're putting in too much or too little?"

"I don't know, I just throw it in there."

"That's preposterous. You have to follow a recipe."

"Not always. I've never really followed one. I just cook."

"What? Are you telling me we haven't been following one this whole time?" Xeno dumbfounded asks.

"Yeah. I'm just tasting it along the way and adding what I think it needs more of."

Xeno stays silent and Stan wonders what he's thinking. He watches him place the bottle back on the counter and back away.

"You do it. I don't want to be the reason why it comes out bad."

"You won't. If it does, I'll take all the blame."

"I've been following a recipe for everything this whole time and nothing ever works. Now you telling me you just improvise. It makes me feel as though everything I do in the kitchen will be futile so there's no point."

Stan places the knife down on the counter before coming over to stand closely behind Xeno. He reaches over to grab Xeno's hand and places it on the bottle.

"What are you doing?" Xeno asks, wide eyed at the motion.

"Helping you. Now grab the bottle." 

Xeno gives him a scrutinizing look before doing as he was told. Stan then puts his hand on top of Xeno's and brings the bottle over the pot. He then pours some of the vinegar into it.

"Wait." 

"What's wrong? We're doing it together. That way if it comes out bad then both of us are to blame."

Stan guides their hands to put the bottle back down before telling Xeno to grab the wooden spoon to stir the pot. He complies and Stan takes over for him a minute later. 

"Open wide." Stan says, bringing the sauce filled spoon up to Xeno's lips.

"I don't-" Xeno starts but stops once Stan takes the chance to push the spoon forward into his open mouth.

"Does it taste right? Does it need anything added to it?"

"Maybe more salt?" Xeno mumbles.

Stan dips the spoon back into the sauce and then brings up to his lips to try. It did need something more to it.

"I think you're right. Here grab the salt, I'll help you pour some into it."

They finish making the meal together in this fashion. Soon they're done stacking it up in a dish and place it into the oven to cook. It takes about 50 minutes for the lasagna to bake so they decide to clean up while they wait. 

"Stan?"

"What's up?"

"Thank you for helping me today with everything. I really appreciate it."

"No problem Xeno. I'm happy to help anytime."

Xeno smiles brightly at him which makes Stan's heart skip a beat. What was he, a schoolgirl with a crush? Well technically he was in a way but still, everything Xeno did was enduring to him. It hurt to know that the other man would never see him as more than a friend. It was why Stan was trying not to get too comfortable living with Xeno like this. As much as he loved being able to spend so much time with him and see him all the time, it wasn't a great atmosphere for lessening his stupid lovesick crush for his friend. It was better if he found a new place to live soon.

Soon the timer goes off for the lasagna in the oven and they take it out. When he pulls back the foil, it looks absolutely delicious. The cheese on top is melted perfectly and Stan serves each of them a plate.

"So, what do you think?" He asks, as Xeno takes a bite.

"It's delicious." 

"I told you it would turn out fine. You were worried for nothing."

"I have every right to be concerned about how it would come out."

"Yummy!" Gen exclaims.

"See. You said if he thinks it's good then it is. You can't go against all those fresh young taste buds of his."

"I guess you're right." Xeno laughs.

Stan takes his first bite and it was pretty dang good. They definitely will have to make this dish again and more of it so they could save it for leftovers the next day.

"I wish my dish would have tasted like this that day and maybe Mrs. Sundell wouldn't have given me an 80 on that project." Xeno mumbles.

"You act like an 80 is a bad grade."

"It is when your number 1 in the class and want it to stay that way!"

"You still graduated top of our class anyway even with one low grade." 

"Yeah because I dug in the trash for extra credit to raise that grade up."

Stan had forgotten all about that. Mrs. Sundell would give out extra credit bucks during class sometimes for different reasons. Each buck could be used to raise any grade you wanted by one point. Xeno had a group of kids in high school that liked to bully him when Stan wasn't around. 

This group of bullies that day the project happened had all gathered up some of their extra credit bucks and had thrown them into one of the big trash cans during lunch. Xeno or course had climbed into that trash can and tried to gather up all the ones he could while they laughed at him. Stan had walked into the cafeteria to see them making fun of Xeno as he was searching among the garbage for the extra credit bucks. 

"You really didn't need to do that." Stan tells him.

"Yes, I did! I couldn't have one bad grade be the reason why Arissa took that number 1 spot from me."

It's been years since he's heard that name, but it still makes him insanely jealous hearing it come from Xeno's mouth. Arissa was a girl from high school that Xeno competed with through their school years to be valedictorian for their graduating class. They were always neck in neck on grades and outranking each other from that top spot. 

Xeno would often talk about her a lot when they were in school because of this. It was infuriating for Stan to listen to him ramble on about a girl to him. Especially a smart pretty girl who was in the same classes, clubs, and shared the same hobbies as Xeno. He didn't want to see her as a threat but there were little signs that didn't help him feeling this way throughout high school.

He remembers one year for Valentine's day, Arissa had left a heart shaped cookie bin on Xeno's desk that held beautifully decorated space themed cookies inside. Xeno had said it was just her way of mocking him for getting a better grade on their robotics project, but Stan knew better. He read the little neatly written letter she left with the cookies and there was no mocking intent in it. In fact, she even praised Xeno's intelligence and brilliance in that letter, which Stan desperately wanted to tear to shreds. 

After that he started paying attention more closely to her and the interactions, she had with Xeno. He noticed the longing stares and bright hopeful eyes right away. That's when he started seeing her as a threat and rival to win Xeno's affections. Thankfully Xeno was too oblivious to notice her crush on him and ignored all her advances. 

She didn't win that making "Xeno fall head over heels for you" battle but neither did Stan. They both left high school with Xeno being naive to their feelings for him. Arissa more than likely moved on from her crush on Xeno but Stan never did. He was still here hoping that maybe one day Xeno would notice him as more than a friend.

"She never did, and you still came out as number 1 of our class."

"I did but digging through the trash was necessary to ensure that." Xeno says, taking another bite of his meal.

Stan doesn't argue with Xeno anymore about it. They continue to eat until their plates are empty. Xeno cleans Gen up while Stan cleans their plates in the sink. Once they're done tidying up the kitchen then move to the living room to watch a movie together. Of course, it has to be something Gen would want to watch so they settle on the Lion King.

They get through the first movie and are halfway through the second one before Gen falls asleep on the couch in between them. Xeno turns the TV off before picking him up so they could retreat to the room to sleep. Xeno is about to gently lay Gen down into his crib until the baby stirs awake and starts squirming.

"No."

"Please Gen, I need you to sleep here tonight."

"No sleep." Gen mumbles.

Xeno sighs before bringing Gen over to the bed to place the toddler in between Stan and him. Gen looks up at him with his huge grey eyes before snuggling into the blanket.

"Do you mind if he sleeps in between us?"

"It's fine."

"I don't feel like fighting him on it tonight or him escaping again." Xeno says, tucking the blanket around Gen. 

Stan eyes land on the purple aster flowerpot they had placed on the dresser before leaning back against his pillow. The flowers remind him that they were planning to visit Zinnia's resting place tomorrow. He turns to glance over at Xeno and see him running his fingers through Gen's dark locks. Xeno catches his gaze and smiles lightly at him.

"Goodnight Stan."

"Goodnight Xeno."

The lamp is turned off and the room becomes pitch dark. As he lies in bed Stan hopes that tomorrow goes well and he doesn't end up feeling like shit for dragging Xeno along to visit his sister's grave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have two other WIPs I'm working on along with this one. So, I'm juggling writing three stories at once! I do plan to still update this story though!
> 
> Thanks for the comments/kudos/etc! I really appreciate them all.
> 
> My [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ghoulgecko?s=09)!


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